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BOARD # 363: Effective Strategies to Support Student Success in an NSF S-STEM Program

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Conference

2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Publication Date

June 22, 2025

Start Date

June 22, 2025

End Date

August 15, 2025

Conference Session

NSF Grantees Poster Session II

Tagged Topics

Diversity and NSF Grantees Poster Session

Page Count

7

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/55734

Download Count

1

Paper Authors

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Diana Samaroo City University of New York - New York City College of Technology

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Diana Samaroo is a Professor in the Chemistry Department at New York City College of Technology of the City University of New York (CUNY). She received her bachelor’s degree from Hunter College, and doctorate from CUNY Graduate Center. She has a broad range of experience in curricular and program development and project administration. Dr. Samaroo was the Chairperson of the Chemistry Department from 2015–2021. She is a CUNY Faculty Leadership Fellow. She served as co-PI on several grants, which include NSF S-STEM, IUSE, RCN-UBE, and NEH grants. Her current projects focus on academic success, integrating undergraduate research into the curriculum, improving student retention/graduation, and first-year experience. She has organized several conferences and faculty professional development workshops.

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Urmi Duttagupta New York City College of Technology, City University of New York

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Urmi Duttagupta is the Coordinator of the Computer Science Program and a Professor of the Mathematics Department at New York City College of Technology, City University of New York. She received a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics jointly from the New Jersey Institute of Technology and Rutgers University and a B.S. in Applied Mathematics from The Ohio State University. Her current research interests include parameter estimation via optimization, infectious disease modeling, applications of graph theory in criminal network analysis and developing and applying bio-math related undergraduate modules in various SENCER related projects. She has several publications in peer-reviewed journals and is the recipient of several MAA NREUP grants, a SENCER leadership fellowship, Department of Homeland Security grants, and several NSF S-STEM and PSC-CUNY grants/awards. She also has an extensive experience of mentoring undergraduate students in various research projects. She has mentored more than 45 students in various research projects through Emerging Scholars program, Honors Scholars program, NYC LSAMP grant, CURM mini-grant, MAA NREUP grant, and DHS grant for undergraduate research. She is originally from Kolkata (Calcutta), a cosmopolitan city located in Eastern part of India. As an Asian American, she embraces multiculturalism and diversity. She considers herself a lifelong learner and is always eager to learn from her students about their cultures and traditions. Besides solving math problems, she enjoys reading, painting, writing, singing, whimsical dancing, and enjoys cooking spicy Indian food.

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Nadia S Kennedy New York City College of Technology

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Nadia Stoyanova Kennedy is an Associate Professor in Mathematics Education in the Department of Mathematics and Program Director of Mathematics Education. She received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Mathematics from Sofia State University, Bulgaria. Between completing her master's and doctoral degree, she was a full-time high school mathematics teacher for 15 years, a curriculum developer and a student teacher mentor. Before joining City Tech, she held a faculty position at the Department of Mathematics at Stony Brook University. She was the founding director of the New York City Men Teach Program@Citytech (NYCMT) and directed the program from 2016 to 2019.

She has published 3 textbooks, one book, edited a special journal issue, and published over 45 refereed articles and chapters in numerous mathematics education journals, anthologies and conference proceedings. She has presented at more than 66 national and international conferences. She has acted as a consultant for the International Baccalaureate Organization (IB) on curriculum, assessment, and examiner training since 2007.

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Armando Dominguez Solis New York City College of Technology, The City University of New York

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Dr. Armando D. Solis is the BS Biomedical Informatics Director at City Tech and an Associate Professor, has extensive experience in supporting student success through research and advisement, with critical roles in institutional grants from the NIH (Bridges to the Baccalaureate with Brooklyn College; Big Data Training Program with Cornell Weill) and the NSF (multiple S-STEM grants; ExLENT with Schrödinger and LaGuardia Community College). He created the BS Biomedical Informatics program in 2013 and has served as Director for majority of the years of its 10+ years of existence, a successful program that has graduated hundreds of students who have gone on to graduate and professional schools and various biotech firms across the country. He has held administrative roles such as Department Chair of Biological Sciences Department and course directors for upper-level Biomedical Informatics courses and Biochemistry. His research interests concern protein folding, and has published single-author papers about various computational investigations on protein structure. Most recently, he is pursuing questions about prebiotic evolution, and tackling issues related to the early evolution of functional proteins prior to the emergence of the first life.

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Viviana Acquaviva New York City College of Technology

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Dr. Acquaviva is a machine learning expert working at the intersection of climate science and data science. She has received many research grants and has mentored over twenty-five graduate and undergraduate students. She has ~ 60 published papers in peer-reviewed journals or peer-reviewed conference proceedings, with ~ 10,750 citations and an h-index of 35, and has given more than 70 invited seminars and lectures and ~60 contributed talks/posters in conferences and workshops. Her textbook “Machine Learning for Physics and Astronomy”, published in 2023 by Princeton University Press, won the 2024 Chambliss Astronomical Writing award from the American Astronomical Society.

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Abstract

This paper reports on the success of an NSF S-STEM grant, which builds on two successful previous programs at “our institution”. The initiative aims to improve retention and graduation rates, increasing the participation of minority and female students in STEM fields and the NYC workforce, thereby reducing socio-economic disparities.

From Spring 2020 to Spring 2024, the project awarded an average of 40 scholarships annually to academically strong and financially disadvantaged students in various STEM programs, benefiting 93 unique students. It also enhanced early research experiences, internships, and provided robust academic advisement and mentoring. Seminars and meetings with STEM professionals expanded students' networks. Feedback highlighted the need for more research experience, programming skills, and mentorship.

Samaroo, D., & Duttagupta, U., & Kennedy, N. S., & Solis, A. D., & Acquaviva, V. (2025, June), BOARD # 363: Effective Strategies to Support Student Success in an NSF S-STEM Program Paper presented at 2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Montreal, Quebec, Canada . https://peer.asee.org/55734

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