Asee peer logo

BOARD # 423: Preliminary Findings of an NSF-supported track-III S-STEM STAR Project

Download Paper |

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/55801

Paper Authors

biography

Muhammad Dawood New Mexico State University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0001-5096-9416

visit author page

Dr. Muhammad Dawood received his BE degree from the NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi, Pakistan, 1985, and his MS and Ph.D. degrees, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, in 1998 and 2001, respectively, both in electrical engineering. Dr

visit author page

biography

Paola Bandini New Mexico State University

visit author page

Dr. Paola Bandini is the Wells-Hatch Professor in the Civil Engineering Department at New Mexico State University (NMSU). She received her Master and Ph.D. degrees in civil engineering (geotechnical) from Purdue University, and joined the NMSU faculty in 2002.

visit author page

biography

Rachel Boren New Mexico State University

visit author page

Dr. Rachel Boren is the Director of the SOAR Evaluation and Policy Center in the College of Education at New Mexico State University. Her expertise is in research methodology and program evaluation in the social sciences.

visit author page

biography

Joe Butler New Mexico State University - Dona Ana Community College

visit author page

Joe Butler is the Dean of Science, Engineering, and Mathematics at Doña Ana Community College. Joe earned the BS and MS in Mathematics at the University of North Texas.

visit author page

biography

Wendy Chi ABC Research & Evaluation

visit author page

Dr. Wendy Chi is the Director of ABC Research & Evaluation, specializing in education research and program evaluations of projects focusing on educational equity issues; specifically, the participation of underrepresented populations in STEM fields. Dr. Chi earned her PhD in Educational Foundations, Policy and Practice from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

visit author page

Download Paper |

Abstract

An interinstitutional team of researchers at a Southwest HSI Land-Grant University and its affiliated local community college embarked on managing an NSF-supported Track III S-STEM scholarship project called STAR (“Successful Transfer and Retention”) project. This project is a synergistic effort between the University’s College of Engineering (CoE) and a neighboring 2-year Community College (CC). The project addresses an institutionally identified need of increasing recruitment of financially challenged, academically talented, 2-year CC transfer engineering students as well as retaining and graduating them. Major elements o this effort are: provide need-based financial assistance to academically talented engineering students; enhance transfer engineering students’ math proficiency through a Summer Math Boot Camp (SMBC); enhance Students’ Self-Efficacy, Growth Mindset, and Engineering Identity through metacognition- and cohort-based activities; and assess students’ academic performance using data analytics. The program began recruitment of scholars in Fall 2020 and continuing. As of now, it has 57 scholars at various stages of their education. The cognitive and noncognitive activities of the program support students’ academic preparation through SMBC, Self-Efficacy and Growth Mindset through metacognition-based workshops, Engineering Identity through cohort-based activities in Engineering Learning Communities (ELCs), time management skills, one-on-one relationships with near-peer and faculty mentors, and a cohort model. The program conducts yearly SMBC and monthly meetings comprising presentations, workshops, and cohort-building activities. The key preliminary findings indicate S-STEM financial support is the top-rated element of the program followed by professional preparation and community building. These scholars have seen progressive growth in their various aspects of engineering identity.

Dawood, M., & Bandini, P., & Boren, R., & Butler, J., & Chi, W. (2025, June), BOARD # 423: Preliminary Findings of an NSF-supported track-III S-STEM STAR Project Paper presented at 2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Montreal, Quebec, Canada . https://peer.asee.org/55801

ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2025 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015