Increasing perseverance and retention of computing and engineering students through service

Sacred Heart University will provide $1,450,727 in scholarships and academic supports through October 2027 under a Project Grant from the National Science Foundation's STEM Education program (CFDA #47.076). The University aims to increase retention and graduation rates for 24 low-income, academically talented technology and engineering students per year through individualized tutoring, mentorship, career guidance, and community internships. Students will receive up to $60,000 each in scholarships over four years if they pursue degrees in fields like computer engineering and cybersecurity. In addition to financial assistance, the program offers cohort-building activities, workshops on topics like 3D printing and game design, and paid summer internships where scholars can apply STEM skills to help underserved communities. The goal is to support students' academic success and preparation for STEM careers or further education in a way that explores the impact of community engagement. Quantitative and qualitative evaluations will measure progress towards objectives like improved mathematics performance and post-graduation outcomes.

Abstract

This project contributes to meeting the national need for well-educated scientists, technology experts, engineers and mathematicians by supporting low-income, academically talented technology majors with demonstrated financial need. Support will be in the form of scholarships and extensive supports that address their specific needs by strengthening their social capital through stronger relationships with their faculty and fellow students and by engaging in community service. Over its six-year duration, this project will fund scholarships for 24 full-time students who are pursuing bachelor?s degrees in majors such as computer engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, information technology, game design development, and cybersecurity. Scholars will be selected as first-year students and will receive scholarships for up to four years. Specific project activities include a pre-fall program that will focus on refreshing scholars? Math foundation, math tutoring, cohort building, faculty mentoring, lab workshops centered around game controller design, electronic puzzles, or 3D printing, career guidance for scholars and community engagement with stem organizations. For community engagement, scholars will participate in internships to work with several community partners in bridgeport, connecticut that offer learning opportunities after school and in the summer to low-income k-12 students. This project will examine how the internships will impact scholars? Stem identity and attitudes regarding social justice and service-learning over time, how they impact academic performance and how scholars? Personalities change over the duration of the six-year program. There will be three cohorts of eight students per cohort for a total of 24 unique scholars and 96 unique scholarships. Through the aforementioned scholarships and supports, sacred heart university will provide the means for low-income, talented scholars with financial need to persist in their major to graduation and support its scholars in their preparation to pursue positions in the workforce or to successfully advance to graduate school. The program has the following four objectives: (1) decrease the drop-fail-withdraw rates for foundational mathematics courses and increase the first-year retention of scholars retained in their stem majors; (2) increase the four-year graduation rate for scholars in any of the s-stem targeted majors; (3) increase the number of scholars placed in a paid summer internship as a rising senior at regional companies and place scholars in a stem position in the workforce or a graduate school program within six months of graduation. SHU has a longstanding tradition of service-learning in underserved communities and thus added a fourth objective: (4) explore the impact of community engagement by giving scholars the opportunity to apply stem concepts in communities of need. Each student will reach 200 hours per summer or winter break of community-focused, paid internship per scholar in their first and second years in their program. This project includes a rigorous evaluation plan to measure formative and summative progress and will disseminate its findings at the international association for research on service-learning and community-engagement, the national society of black engineers, the society of hispanic professional engineers, the society of women engineers, and at other conferences. IT also plans to sustain successful supports beyond the funding period. This project is funded by NSF?s scholarships in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics program, which seeks to increase the number of low-income academically talented students with demonstrated financial need who earn degrees in stem fields. The program also aims to improve the education of future stem workers, and to generate knowledge about academic success, retention, transfer, graduation, and academic/career pathways of low-income students. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.