STEM Journeys - From College to Career

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 Saint Anselm College, the University of New Hampshire, and all New Hampshire Community Colleges. A total of 30 scholars pursuing Bachelor's degrees in Biology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Environmental Science, Mathematics, Natural Science, and Physics, and a total of 10 scholars pursuing Master of Science degrees in Bioinformatics, Molecular & Cellular Biotechnology, Chemistry, Computer Science, and Physics will receive scholarships averaging $15,000 annually for up to five years. Scholars will receive faculty and peer mentoring, and the project will build strong scholar cohorts through transitional summer programming, Saint Anselm College peer tutors and learning communities, University of New Hampshire graduate mentors, and peer and alumni networking activities. Additional activities for scholars include enhanced and holistic advising, paid summer research experiences and internships, and programming focused on STEM career preparation. The overall goal of this Track 1 Scholarships in STEM project is to increase STEM degree completion of academically talented, low-income undergraduate and graduate 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 STEM-related and research-focused careers, which is needed in New Hampshire and New England more broadly, and other key areas of need. The project will be assessed by an experienced evaluator that will develop and conduct formative and summative assessments to evaluate the effectiveness of the STEM Journeys, which includes analyzing and cataloging student performance data (student GPA, retention and graduation rates, STEM persistence, career trajectory, etc.) and regularly administering surveys and semi-structured interviews to understand scholars’ experiences, and the data generated 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. NSF Award ID: 2527683 | Program: 1300PYXXDB H-1B FUND, EDU, NSF | Principal Investigator: Alexander Smith | Institution: Saint Anselm College, MANCHESTER, NH | Award Amount: $1,872,118 View on NSF Award Search: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/show-award/?AWD_ID=2527683 View on Research.gov: https://www.research.gov/awardapi-service/v1/awards/2527683.html