BOARD # 417: NSF S-STEM: Tracking Sense of Belonging and Grit Among Limited Income Students in STEM

Maxine Fontaine; Ashley Lytle; Frank T Fisher

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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: 6
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/55794

Paper Authors

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Maxine Fontaine Stevens Institute of Technology (School of Engineering and Science) orcid.org/0009-0001-3689-5729

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Maxine Fontaine is a Teaching Associate Professor in Mechanical Engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology. She received her Ph.D. in 2010 from Aalborg University in Aalborg, Denmark. Maxine has a background in the biomechanics of human movement, and she currently teaches several undergraduate courses in engineering mechanics. Her research interests are focused on improving engineering pedagogy and increasing diversity in engineering.

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Ashley Lytle

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Ashley Lytle is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey, USA. Lytle earned her PhD at Stony Brook University, New York, USA. Her research explores how prejudice, discrimination, and stereotyping im

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Frank T Fisher Stevens Institute of Technology (School of Engineering and Science) orcid.org/0000-0003-4476-5040

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Frank T. Fisher is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology, where he served as the Interim Department Director / Department Chair from April 2013 to August 2018. He earned BS degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Applied M

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Abstract

Student success and persistence in an engineering program goes beyond academic knowledge and proficiency. Previous studies have shown that many factors, including sense of belonging and grit, contribute to student performance and retention in STEM fields [1-9]. Sense of belonging refers to the belief that one fits in and belongs, and grit is described as perseverance and passion for long term goals. At [our university], an NSF S-STEM program centered around scholarship and mentorship was developed to support our limited-income (LI) students. Scholarships are awarded to selected students in their second term, renewable for up to 6 additional semesters. Each scholar is paired with a faculty mentor, following a one-to-one mentoring model. In addition, each cohort of scholars is matched with a small group of peer mentors and alumni mentors. Cohort activities include a mix of social events and professional workshops to build community and develop essential skills among our scholars. The goals of the program include: • increasing retention and graduation rates of our LI student body to match those of our overall STEM student body, • increasing departmental and institutional awareness of the challenges faced by LI students in STEM, and • developing new programming specific to LI students and integrating with existing campus supports and activities. In this study, we examine the effects of sense of belonging and grit on student retention and academic performance among our LI and non-LI student populations. Specifically, we aim to address the following research questions: • RQ1. Can we see differences in sense of belonging and grit among our LI vs. non-LI student population (first-year STEM)? • RQ2. Is sense of belonging and/or grit correlated with retention and/or academic performance among our students? • RQ3. Does the S-STEM program have an impact on sense of belonging? We use the responses to a psychosocial survey disseminated to the majority of first-year STEM students to address RQ1 and RQ2. For RQ3, we have our scholars take the psychosocial survey every year, so we are able to track changes in sense of belonging and grit among this student group as they progress through their degree program. Preliminary results show that sense of belonging is significantly lower among our LI first-year STEM students (M=4.854, SD=1.249) than their non-LI counterparts (M=5.211, SD=1.268), t(641) = -2.624, p=.009. No differences in grit were observed among our LI (M=2.756, SD=.650) and non-LI (M=2.746, SD=.604) first-year STEM students, t(641) = 0.156, p=.876.

References: [1] Duckworth, A., & Gross, J. J. (2014). Self-control and grit: Related but separable determinants of success. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 23(5), 319-325. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721414541462 [2] Duckworth, A. L., Peterson, C., Matthews, M. D., & Kelly, D. R. (2007). Grit: perseverance and passion for long-term goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(6), 1087. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.92.6.1087 [3] Duckworth, A.L, & Quinn, P.D. (2009). Development and validation of the Short Grit Scale (Grit- S). Journal of Personality Assessment, 91(2), 166-174. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223890802634290 [4] Good, C., Rattan, A., & Dweck, C. S. (2012). Why do women opt out? Sense of belonging and women's representation in mathematics. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 102(4), 700. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0026659 [5] Hunter, M. (2020). The role of grit and other non-cognitive factors: Investigating the engagementand achievement of STEM majors. Retrieved from https://etd.ohiolink.edu/ [6] Hodge, B., Wright, B., & Bennett, P. (2018). The role of grit in determining engagement and academic outcomes for university students. Research in Higher Education, 59(4), 448-460. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-017-9474-y [7] Leslie, S. J., Cimpian, A., Meyer, M., & Freeland, E. (2015). Expectations of brilliance underlie gender distributions across academic disciplines. Science, 347(6219), 262-265. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1261375 [8] Marra, R.M., Rodgers, K.A., Shen, D. and Bogue, B. (2012), Leaving Engineering: A Multi-Year Single Institution Study. Journal of Engineering Education, 101: 6-27. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2168-9830.2012.tb00039.x [9] Rosenthal, L., London, B., Levy, S. R., & Lobel, M. (2011). The roles of perceived identity compatibility and social support for women in a single-sex STEM program at a co-educational university. Sex Roles, 65(9–10), 725–736. doi: 10.1007/s11199-011-9945-0

Citation
Format

Fontaine, M., & Lytle, A., & Fisher, F. T. (2025, June), BOARD # 417: NSF S-STEM: Tracking Sense of Belonging and Grit Among Limited Income Students in STEM Paper presented at 2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Montreal, Quebec, Canada . https://peer.asee.org/55794

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Student success and persistence in an engineering program goes beyond academic knowledge and proficiency. Previous studies have shown that many factors, including sense of belonging and grit, contribute to student performance and retention in STEM fields [1-9]. Sense of belonging refers to the belief that one fits in and belongs, and grit is described as perseverance and passion for long term goals.
At [our university], an NSF S-STEM program centered around scholarship and mentorship was developed to support our limited-income (LI) students. Scholarships are awarded to selected students in their second term, renewable for up to 6 additional semesters. Each scholar is paired with a faculty mentor, following a one-to-one mentoring model. In addition, each cohort of scholars is matched with a small group of peer mentors and alumni mentors. Cohort activities include a mix of social events and professional workshops to build community and develop essential skills among our scholars.  
The goals of the program include: 
•	increasing retention and graduation rates of our LI student body to match those of our overall STEM student body,
•	increasing departmental and institutional awareness of the challenges faced by LI students in STEM, and
•	developing new programming specific to LI students and integrating with existing campus supports and activities.  
In this study, we examine the effects of sense of belonging and grit on student retention and academic performance among our LI and non-LI student populations. Specifically, we aim to address the following research questions: 
•	RQ1. Can we see differences in sense of belonging and grit among our LI vs. non-LI student population (first-year STEM)?
•	RQ2. Is sense of belonging and/or grit correlated with retention and/or academic performance among our students?
•	RQ3. Does the S-STEM program have an impact on sense of belonging? 
We use the responses to a psychosocial survey disseminated to the majority of first-year STEM students to address RQ1 and RQ2. For RQ3, we have our scholars take the psychosocial survey every year, so we are able to track changes in sense of belonging and grit among this student group as they progress through their degree program. 
Preliminary results show that sense of belonging is significantly lower among our LI first-year STEM students (M=4.854, SD=1.249) than their non-LI counterparts (M=5.211, SD=1.268), t(641) = -2.624, p=.009. No differences in grit were observed among our LI (M=2.756, SD=.650) and non-LI (M=2.746, SD=.604) first-year STEM students, t(641) = 0.156, p=.876. 



References:
[1] 	Duckworth, A., &amp;amp; Gross, J. J. (2014). Self-control and grit: Related but separable determinants of success. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 23(5), 319-325. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721414541462   
[2] 	Duckworth, A. L., Peterson, C., Matthews, M. D., &amp;amp; Kelly, D. R. (2007). Grit: perseverance and passion for long-term goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(6), 1087. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.92.6.1087  
[3] 	Duckworth, A.L, &amp;amp; Quinn, P.D. (2009). Development and validation of the Short Grit Scale (Grit- S). Journal of Personality Assessment, 91(2), 166-174. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223890802634290  
[4] 	Good, C., Rattan, A., &amp;amp; Dweck, C. S. (2012). Why do women opt out? Sense of belonging and women&#39;s representation in mathematics. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 102(4), 700. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0026659   
[5] 	Hunter, M. (2020). The role of grit and other non-cognitive factors: Investigating the engagementand achievement of STEM majors. Retrieved from https://etd.ohiolink.edu/   
[6] 	Hodge, B., Wright, B., &amp;amp; Bennett, P. (2018). The role of grit in determining engagement and academic outcomes for university students. Research in Higher Education, 59(4), 448-460. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-017-9474-y   
[7] 	Leslie, S. J., Cimpian, A., Meyer, M., &amp;amp; Freeland, E. (2015). Expectations of brilliance underlie gender distributions across academic disciplines. Science, 347(6219), 262-265. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1261375 
[8] 	Marra, R.M., Rodgers, K.A., Shen, D. and Bogue, B. (2012), Leaving Engineering: A Multi-Year Single Institution Study. Journal of Engineering Education, 101: 6-27. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2168-9830.2012.tb00039.x
[9] 	Rosenthal, L., London, B., Levy, S. R., &amp;amp; Lobel, M. (2011). The roles of perceived identity compatibility and social support for women in a single-sex STEM program at a co-educational university. Sex Roles, 65(9–10), 725–736. doi: 10.1007/s11199-011-9945-0


AU  - Maxine Fontaine
AU  - Ashley Lytle
AU  - Frank T Fisher
CY  - Montreal, Quebec, Canada 
DA  - 2025/06/22
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - BOARD # 417: NSF S-STEM: Tracking Sense of Belonging and Grit Among Limited Income Students in STEM
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/55794
ER  -