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Browsing by Author "Alfrey, Karen D."
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Item Board 3: CLEAR Scholars in Engineering: Academic, Career, and Leadership Development to Help Students with Financial Challenges Achieve their Full Academic Potential(ASEE, 2018) Alfrey, Karen D.; Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering and TechnologyFunded by a National Science Foundation S-STEM grant, the CLEAR Scholars in Engineering program provides financial support, mentoring, and leadership and career development to undergraduate students with demonstrated potential to succeed in engineering, but who face significant financial challenges, possibly in combination with other barriers to meeting their full potential, such as being a first-generation college student or a member of an underrepresented group. In addition to scholarship support, CLEAR Scholars are provided with an intentional set of activities that promotes student retention, achievement, and persistence to graduation through: (a) Community-building through a cohort model; (b) Leadership and career development; (c) Engagement with industry; (d) Advising through mentoring; and (e) Resources for academic success (hence the acronym CLEAR). The ultimate goal of this project is to produce engineering graduates with lower student loan indebtedness and greater preparation for post-degree roles. After five years, 13 out of 14 students who participated in the program so far successfully completed an engineering degree; and of those graduates, 12 out of 13 remain in a STEM field either in an industry or academic job or in a post-baccalaureate educational program. We have found that participants in the program have been significantly more likely than average to pursue an industrial or research internship as an undergraduate, contributing both to retention in their chosen fields and post-graduation success.Item An Initial Exploration of Engineering Student Perceptions of COVID’s Impact on Connectedness, Learning, and STEM Identity(American Society of Engineering Education, 2021-07-26) Stewart, Craig O.; Darbeheshti, Maryam; Ivey, Stephanie S.; Russomanno, David J.; Cummings, Miriam Howland; Simon, Gregory Edward; Schupbach, William Taylor; Jacobson, Mike S.; Altman, Tom; Alfrey, Karen D.; Goodman, Katherine; Electrical and Computer Engineering, School of Engineering and TechnologyThis paper studied the development of STEM identity for freshman students in Engineering. An Urban Research University received a 5-year S-STEM award in fall 2018. So far, two cohorts of scholars have received the scholarship as well as academic support, mentoring support, and customized advising from faculty and upper level peers. The objective of this project is to help underrepresented and talented students in engineering to pursue an undergraduate degree. A Multi-Layered Mentoring(MLM) Program was established, and several interviews were conducted with scholarship recipients. The qualitative and qualitative analysis of the student success shows an improvement in GPA of students in the program as compared to the rest of the school. The students not only received financial help through the program based on their unmet needs, they are were placed in an engineering learning community (ELC). The participants in ELC and MLM programs agreed to participate in research studies to assess their success. This NSF funded program also helped freshman students be involved in a hands-on Design Innovations class where they learned design process and human centered design. The students were surveyed on a regular basis to identify their needs and were approached by faculty advisor as well as their mentors to trouble shoot their concerns and help them with both social and academic aspects of their concerns. The first cohort joined the program in AY 2019-2020, as freshmen. This cohort had experienced a full semester of in-person engagement before the COVID-19 hit in the middle of the second semester of their freshman year. We have researched the impact of the pandemic on their academic progress, sense of belonging, and STEM identity. The second cohort joined the program in AY 2020-2021. They have not had the chance to experience the campus life and their perspective of college life is very different than the first cohort. The STEM identity was one of the success indicators for freshman students who entered the university in one of the most difficult and un-usual circumstances under the COVID-19 pandemic.