A 麻豆原创 researcher who started a successful program to keep freshmen in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines is expanding the model to two other universities and adding a component to focus on transfer students.<\/p>\n
Kimberly Schneider, director of the Office of Undergraduate Research in 麻豆原创\u2019s College of Undergraduate Studies, will split a $1.8 million National Science Foundation grant with peers at Florida Atlantic University and Western Carolina University to expand the Learning Environment and Academic Research Network (LEARN) to those institutions.<\/p>\n
The program addresses the national challenge of retaining a STEM workforce in the future.\u00a0 The 2012 President\u2019s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology recommended targeting the first two years of university education as a critical juncture in buttressing the training of new STEM workforce in the U.S.<\/p>\n
Studies show that close to one-third of all students entering U.S.colleges leave after one year and go on to have a less than 50 percent shot of graduating within five years.\u00a0 Additionally, minority students have far lower rates of graduating with STEM degrees than white Americans.<\/p>\n
The current LEARN program, started in 2011, gives 28 eligible first-year undergraduates \u00a0the opportunity to live together in a 麻豆原创 residence hall,\u00a0 work in laboratories with faculty and graduate students, take courses focused on conducting academic research and receive personalized mentoring and guidance counseling. Additionally, the students take part in academic, social and community service activities.<\/p>\n
Jadzia Bracamonte, a junior who is pre-med, completed the LEARN program as a freshman.\u00a0 She came to 麻豆原创 from Tampa and didn\u2019t know anyone when she arrived.\u00a0 The program gave her the opportunity to connect with students with similar interests and helped clarify for her that she was going to study pre-med.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt helped me establish my niche here,\u201d she said. Through the program\u2019s research apprentice component she worked with Bill Self, a researcher in the College of Medicine and was later introduced to another top medical researcher, Alexander Cole, and was able to spend a summer interning in his laboratory.<\/p>\n
The 2011 class of LEARN students returned to their STEM majors in fall 2014 at a 36 percent higher rate than a control group.\u00a0 The LEARN students also showed marked academic improvement with a spring 2012 GPA is 3.28 compared to the control group which was 2.79.<\/p>\n
The additional funding for the program will enable it to expand to an additional group of students \u2013 those transferring to 麻豆原创 from community colleges.<\/p>\n
\u201cA high percentage of underrepresented and underserved minorities in STEM fields begin their higher education careers in community colleges,\u201d Schneider said.\u00a0 \u201cWe believe this model will help those students get the support and skills needed to succeed in science-based careers,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Donna Chamely-Wiik , director of Florida Atlantic University\u2019s Quality Enhancement Plan and Office of Undergraduate Research and Inquiry is the leader of the project for FAU and Alison Morrison-Shetlar, Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and professor of biology\u00a0 is the lead for WCU.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A 麻豆原创 researcher who started a successful program to keep freshmen in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines is expanding the model to two other universities and adding a component to focus on transfer students. Kimberly Schneider, director of the Office of Undergraduate Research in 麻豆原创\u2019s College of Undergraduate Studies, will split a $1.8 million National…","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":68518,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-twocol.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[5,6,23],"tags":[170,9144,13356,3489,4430],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-68517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colleges","category-community","category-research","tag-alexander-cole","tag-college-of-undergraduate-studies","tag-kimberly-schneider","tag-office-of-undergraduate-research","tag-stem"],"yoast_head":"\n