Improving Outcomes for Talented Undergraduate STEM Students through Experiential Science Training

About This Grant

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 North Dakota (UND). Over its five-year duration, this Track 2 project will fund scholarships to at least 30 unique full-time students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in atmospheric sciences, biology, chemistry, environmental studies, forensic science, mathematics, and physics/astrophysics. Participating first year students, transfer students, and returning students will receive funding until they complete their degrees for up to five years. Along with financial support, the Question-based Undergraduate Experiential Science Training (QUEST) project aims to provide meaningful educational and research experiences that will prepare scholars for STEM careers. These experiences include a seminar course, professional development sessions, paid individual research with participating faculty, summer internships at UND or partners in external organizations, and summer short courses. QUEST participants will also present their original research at local, regional and national scientific meetings. QUEST has the potential broaden participation in STEM fields in the region through established collaborations with rural high schools and tribal community colleges. The QUEST project will also advance understanding of how diverse mentors and approaches influence the development of science identity and successful outcomes for undergraduate STEM students. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. The QUEST project has four specific objectives: 1. Recruit and retain talented students that have limited access to STEM training at UND, 2. Generate and knowledge and understand the impact of mentoring relationships on student success, 3. Build connections between UND and other academic programs in the region to promote STEM student success, 4. Share findings and lessons learned locally, regionally and nationally. The QUEST project will examine qualities and aspects of students, mentors and the mentoring relationship relate to the potential for student growth and development. Mentoring relationships are assumed to be constructive and supportive, but that is not always the case. This research will address which aspects of mentoring approaches are associated with student growth and science identity, the effectiveness of coaching techniques for producing positive student outcomes, and how individual mentor characteristics (e.g., self-efficacy and science identify) are associated with successful student growth. Data will be collected from students and faculty through surveys and focus groups at the beginning of the QUEST project. Mentors will be given the opportunity to learn coaching approaches to support STEM student professional development; faculty will be interviewed in focus groups in subsequent years to determine the effect of coaching techniques on student development. These results will be used to bolster social-emotional, cognitive, and identity development for STEM students at UND. QUEST will be evaluated using formative and summative assessments throughout the project using data including the number of students recruited, enrollment, retention and graduation rates, student academic achievement, and feedback from students and faculty. Results from QUEST activities will be made available via local and regional workshops for faculty and academic staff, presentations at local, regional and national meetings and as peer-reviewed publications. 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. 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.