Planning: Comparing Student Success Initiatives

This Scholarships in STEM (S-STEM) planning project from Ripon College, Coe College, Knox College, and Cornell College lays the groundwork for a collaborative S-STEM Track 3 proposal. The future S-STEM proposal would look to provide scholarships and academic support to talented, low-income students in computer science, mathematics, data science, physics, and engineering. The planning process includes a needs assessment at each institution and a comparative exploration of support structures to build shared understanding and compare across sites. As part of this effort, the project team will bring together offices from each campus to learn from one another about their respective areas of student support. The planning process will culminate in a cross-campus workshop to synthesize findings and prepare for the Track 3 proposal. The overall goal of this Scholarships in STEM planning project is a Track 3 S-STEM proposal with significant potential to increase STEM degree completion of academically talented, low-income undergraduates 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. The disciplines emphasized by this project directly speak to this need and have impact on the STEM workforce in AI, advanced manufacturing, energy and other key areas of need. The project takes a whole-institution approach to planning, engaging faculty, staff and administrators in the process to ensure that the resulting collaboration is strong and reflects the strengths, needs, and challenges of prospective scholars at each institution. 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. NSF Award ID: 2620542 | Program: 1300CYXXDB H-1B FUND, EDU, NSF | Principal Investigator: Jandelyn Plane | Institution: Ripon College, RIPON, WI | Award Amount: $97,553 View on NSF Award Search: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/show-award/?AWD_ID=2620542 View on Research.gov: https://www.research.gov/awardapi-service/v1/awards/2620542.html