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Board 351: NSF S-STEM Track 3: Scaling Up Student Success through Broadening Participation Beyond our S-STEM Cohort

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Conference

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Baltimore , Maryland

Publication Date

June 25, 2023

Start Date

June 25, 2023

End Date

June 28, 2023

Conference Session

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Tagged Topics

Diversity and NSF Grantees Poster Session

Page Count

9

DOI

10.18260/1-2--42985

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/42985

Download Count

89

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Paper Authors

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Maryam Darbeheshti University of Colorado, Denver Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-7988-0906

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Dr. Maryam Darbeheshti is Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Colorado, Denver. She is the PI of a recent NSF award that focuses on STEM identity at Urban Universities.
Darbeheshti's primary research is in the area of Engineering Education and Multi-phase fluid flow.

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Miriam Howland Cummings PhD University of Colorado, Denver Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-8653-4489

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Miriam Howland Cummings is a mixed methods social science researcher. She earned a BA from Rice University and recently completed a PhD from the University of Colorado Denver while serving as a graduate research assistant for the Urban STEM Collaboratory. Dr. Howland Cummings' research focuses on engineering education, K-12 education, and the measurement of latent constructs.

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William Taylor Schupbach

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David J. Russomanno Indiana University - Purdue University, Indianapolis

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David J. Russomanno is dean of the Purdue School of Engineering and Technology and a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Before joining IUPUI, he was the R. Eugene Smith Professor

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Stephanie S Ivey The University of Memphis

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Dr. Stephanie Ivey is the Associate Dean for Research with the Herff College of Engineering and a Professor with the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Memphis. She directs the U of M’s Southeast Transportation Workforce Center and th

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Karen D Alfrey Indiana University - Purdue University, Indianapolis

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Karen Alfrey is a Clinical Associate Professor in Biomedical Engineering and Associate Dean for Undergraduate Academic Affairs and Programs in the School of Engineering and Technology at IUPUI. She has been a member of ASEE since 2003.

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Tom Altman

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Tom Altman received his B.S. degrees in Computer Science and in Mathematics, and M.S. and Ph.D. (1984) in Computer Science, all from the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Altman specializes in optimization algorithms, formal language theory, and complex syste

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Michael S. Jacobson

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Professor of Mathematics for over 40 years, with a keen interest in STEM Education.

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Craig O. Stewart University of Memphis Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-6843-795X

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Katherine Goodman University of Colorado, Denver Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-5235-3372

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Katherine Goodman is associate professor at the University of Colorado Denver, and curriculum lead at Inworks, an interdisciplinary innovation lab. Her research focuses on transformative experiences in engineering education. She has served as program chair and division chair of the Technological and Engineering Literacy - Philosophy of Engineering (TELPhE) Division.

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Abstract

A Track 3 NSF S-STEM project, the Urban STEM Collaboratory awards scholarships to undergraduate engineering students at three urban public research universities. Each university employed a unique intervention to support student success, and each has demonstrated positive student outcomes. This poster will share plans to scale up each intervention after termination of the S-STEM grant. Institution #1 integrated its STEM Ambassador program as a component of the Urban STEM Collaboratory, providing priority consideration to students within the cohort for STEM Ambassador positions. The program engages undergraduate students in paid positions supporting STEM teaching and learning with local school districts and community organizations. Ambassadors develop strong leadership and communication skills and deeper connections to their disciplines all while getting paid and making a positive impact in the community. The program has been successful in creating connections and a sense of community for the Ambassadors that has led to positive outcomes in both academic and career pursuits. The leadership team is now exploring opportunities to extend these successes with other populations where a strong sense of community can lead to better retention outcomes, such as community college and other transfer students, and greater success in recruiting students from a local HBCU to graduate STEM programs at Institution #1.

In the Engineering Learning Community (ELC) at Institution #2, first-year engineering students take three classes together: math, English, and first-year design innovations. The ELC began in Fall 2016 with mostly mechanical engineering students. In Fall 2019, the first S-STEM scholarships were awarded and the ELC included students from a variety of engineering majors. In the ELC, students build community and increase their sense of belonging at a primarily commuter campus. Through the S-STEM project, the ELC has grown to continue into students’ second semester of math and English, as well as to include a peer mentorship program. The demonstrated success of the ELC has increased buy-in from campus leadership to scale up the project to create additional, expanded learning communities for all first-year engineering students. Institution #3 piloted Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) in Calculus 1 recitation sections specifically for students in the Urban STEM cohort. PLTL pairs small groups of students with a student mentor who has recently taken the class who facilitates hands-on team-based problem-solving. PLTL is well-established in introductory Chemistry classes at Institution #3 and has previously been employed in some sophomore-level engineering courses with high rates of D, F, or Withdrawal (DFW) grades. The Urban STEM intervention, the first attempt to offer PLTL in Institution #3 math classes, was an overwhelming success: both Urban STEM cohorts showed significantly lower DFW rates in Calculus 1 compared to students not engaged in PLTL, including no failing grades (compared to a 13.5% failure rate for non-PLTL participants). Building on that success, we have continued to expand PLTL in key sophomore engineering classes and have plans to expand into a sophomore Computer Information Technology class. We are also laying the groundwork for future opportunities to support PLTL in foundational mathematics courses that support engineering students.

Darbeheshti, M., & Howland Cummings, M., & Schupbach, W. T., & Russomanno, D. J., & Ivey, S. S., & Alfrey, K. D., & Altman, T., & Jacobson, M. S., & Stewart, C. O., & Goodman, K. (2023, June), Board 351: NSF S-STEM Track 3: Scaling Up Student Success through Broadening Participation Beyond our S-STEM Cohort Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--42985

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