With funding from the National Science Foundation's Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (S-STEM) program, this project will provide a cohort of 14 low-income, academically talented students with multi-year financial support to pursue a STEM major at Coe College in Iowa. This S-STEM Track 1 project will guide these Pell-eligible students to graduation through a four-year program called STEMPath designed to help them persist and succeed in a STEM major in Biology, Chemistry, Physics, or Mathematics/Computer Science. The STEMPath program will also provide these students support beyond direct financial aid in the form of social and academic connections, skills training, career option exposure, research and internship experiences, peer education, work study and mentoring experiences, and access to additional pre-college orientation and trained instructional specialists. Key program highlights will include: first-year bridge activities, participation in a Living and Learning community, and academic coaching. During their second year, scholars will enjoy alumni mentoring and a summer research exposure, followed by a full internship/research experience in their third year. Finally, as seniors, the scholarship recipients will receive job and graduate school exposure and application guidance. Students will meet every semester with selected STEM faculty to monitor their progress in the STEMPath program and receive additional guidance. This project will thus help at-risk students successfully navigate and complete their chosen STEM major.
This S-STEM project seeks to address common pitfalls for academically talented Pell-eligible students. Most notably, the project seeks to monitor and address first-year student retention and STEM persistence issues for introductory courses. Four goals guide the work of the principal investigators. First, the faculty seek to increase the first-year retention and STEM persistence rate of scholarship students in the introductory courses to match that of non-Pell grant students. Second, the project will increase the overall graduation rate of STEMPath students to at least 86% (12/14). Third, the project intends to provide all scholarship recipients with significant career-training experiences including a full summer of scientific research. Finally, the project seeks to increase the average graduation GPA of its students from 3.12 to at least 3.3. Faculty mentors will guide students from before entering first-year orientation through a mentored research experience anchored in Coe's NSF-REU program through graduation and into STEM graduate work or careers. The influence of faculty mentors as well as other social, academic, and professional connections will also be assessed for effectiveness in retention and STEM persistence. Findings will be disseminated regarding the effectiveness of support services, social adjustment, and summer research experience in assisting Pell-eligible students who are provided financial relief through this S-STEM project.
