Promoting Early Retention in STEM: Achieving Change in Communities for Success in STEM Phase 3

This project will contribute to the national need for well-educated scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at University of Washington. A total of 33 scholars pursuing bachelor’s degrees in mathematics, Environmental, Biomedical and Computer Science, Information Technology, and Computer, Electrical, Mechanical and Civil Engineering will receive scholarships averaging $15,000 for up to five years. Scholars will receive faculty mentoring and the project will build strong scholar cohorts through an on-campus STEM Living Learning Community and a Success in STEM seminar. Additional activities include and early Fall Precalculus program and an engineering or environmental Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience. The overall goal of this Track 2 Scholarships in STEM project is to increase STEM degree completion of academically talented, low-income undergraduate students with demonstrated financial need. There is a significant national need to grow the STEM workforce and nurture key talent that will ensure economic competitiveness and provide domestic leadership across critical sectors. This project directly speaks to this need by supporting STEM student success, which will strengthen the workforce in Science, Engineering and other key areas of need. The project will be assessed by an experienced evaluator that will use a mixed-methods approach that would leverage data obtained from quarterly self-report surveys and student institutional outcomes. These data will contribute to the knowledge base regarding effective strategies to support talented, low-income students in STEM. This project is funded by NSF’s Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics program, which seeks to increase the number of academically talented, low-income students with demonstrated financial need who earn degrees in STEM fields. It 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.