NSF HSI PROGRAM AWARDS:

2018-Present

About the HSI Program Awards Database

The map and the data table below summarize key information about the goals and distribution of awards made by the National Science Foundation Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions  (HSI) program inception in 2018. The table is updated in April and October yearly. Current and former Awardees can send requests for updates to hsihub-admin AT nmsu DOT edu with the subject line: HSI Awardee update.

HSI NSF Awardees By States A – M

(January 2018 – May 2023)

HSI NSF Awardees by state titled A through M. List of Cities and the amount of grants per city in each state throughout January 2018 – May 2023.

HSI NSF Awardees by State N – W

(Jan 2018 – May 2023)

HSI NSF Awardees by state titled N through W. List of Cities and the amount of grants per city in each state throughout January 2018 – May 2023.

Due to large amounts of data, this table is best viewed on a desktop browser. A (+) sign on the left column of a row indicates some columns are hidden due to the screen size. Click (+) to view all columns or switch to a browser for optimal viewing. Columns are sortable, queryable, and users can choose to show 10 to 100 rows of data on one page.

“Award #,” “Project Website,” and “Lead PI & Email” columns contain clickable links that direct you away from HSIStemhub.org.

Looking for Program Outcomes?


StateCityAward #HSI Awardee InstitutionProject WebsiteTitle & SummaryLead PI & Email
AZTempe1832543Maricopa County Community College DistrictLinkBuilding Capacity: Integrating Research, Mentoring, and Industry Collaborations to Improve STEM Recruitment and Retention The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program) aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims. This project at the Phoenix College will advance the aims of the HSI Program by incorporating multi-disciplinary Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) into STEM curricula in colleges throughout the district. The program will develop CUREs for three targeted audiences. For non-science majors, it will develop a community-based CURE model designed to promote science literacy, positive attitudes toward science, and recruitment of students into STEM majors. For STEM majors, it will develop a CURE model designed to increase retention, transfer and degree completion of STEM majors. For future STEM professionals, it will develop a workforce CURE model designed to improve workforce-related skills and interest in STEM careers. The program is expected to involve more than 3000 community college students.

The specific goals of this project are to 1) promote increased interest in STEM disciplines, especially among students from groups that are underrepresented in STEM; 2) increase recruitment and retention of students in introductory STEM courses; 3) increase the number of students from two-year HSIs who transfer into STEM degree programs at four-year institutions; and 4) establish cross-sector partnerships with industry to improve workforce readiness and promote interest in STEM careers among two-year HSI students. The project has constructed a comprehensive plan for developing, implementing, and assessing CUREs in introductory courses at two- and four-year institutions. The program will train and mentor community college faculty in the process of developing multidisciplinary CURE modules that address research questions relevant to university researchers, industry partners, and the local community. Identification of the unique barriers and best practices associated with the implementation of CUREs at two-year HSIs will be a useful resource for other two-year and four-year institutions, including two-year HSIs that want to increase the transfer success of students from two-year to four-year programs. Knowledge generated from this project will be shared within the Maricopa County Community College District system, and distributed to the larger educational community through local, regional, and national publications and conferences.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Robin Cotter
AZTucson1928400Pima County Community College District- NORTHWEST CAMPUSEnhancing Introductory Biology with the Arizona Insect DNA Barcoding Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program, this Track 2 project aims to improve undergraduate biology education. It will do so by implementing a place-based Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) in introductory biology at a community college, and studying the CURE's impact on students. The CURE will be developed through a collaboration between Pima Community College and the University of Arizona, both located in Tucson, Arizona. Students participating in the CURE will generate, analyze, and publish data that will be new to science. The opportunity to contribute to scientific knowledge is expected to increase students' positive feelings toward science, which may in turn increase their persistence and graduation in STEM fields. This project will provide new evidence about the value of CUREs by determining whether community college students participating in a CURE are more likely to continue studying science and to graduate with a STEM degree. A significant percentage of college students who take their first biology course at a community college are from underrepresented groups. Thus, the project has the potential to broaden participation in STEM education and the STEM workforce.

Students in introductory biology courses at Pima Community College will participate in the Arizona Insect DNA Barcoding CURE. Students will obtain, analyze, and publish DNA sequences from insects curated in the University of Arizona Insect Collection. Through this work, students will contribute to research at the University of Arizona and to the scientific community at large. Research has shown that increases in students' project ownership, self-efficacy, science identity, and tolerance to obstacles are associated with increases in their persistence and graduation in STEM fields. It is expected that students who participate in the CURE will demonstrate greater increases in these characteristics than those who do not participate. The project will also examine whether multiple experiences in the same CURE are associated with greater increases than a single experience. This project aims to broaden research on STEM student success by examining the relationship between CURE participation and the successful transfer of community college students to four-year institutions and their subsequent graduation in STEM. Thus, the project may provide a collaborative model for how two-year and four-year institutions can partner to improve transfer success and increase STEM graduation rates. It is also expected to serve as a model for actively engaging undergraduate biology students with natural history museum collections in ways that benefit both student performance and the collections. Results from this project will be presented at national science education conferences and submitted for publication in peer-reviewed STEM and STEM education journals. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Jennifer Katcher
AZCoolidge1940949Central Arizona CollegeLinkHSI Conference: Transforming STEM Education at Rural Hispanic-Serving Institutions Across the Nation With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program, this conference aims to identify the unique challenges that rural HSIs face in developing effective STEM programs that have robust student enrollment. It will also promote effective solutions that address these challenges. Institutions of higher education in rural areas and small towns face challenges that are uncommon to peer institutions in larger cities. These challenges include access to high speed Internet, lack of hands-on workforce training or undergraduate research, challenges in recruiting qualified faculty, difficulty in meeting enrollment minimums for new STEM programs, and problems accessing federal funding dollars. Hispanic-Serving Institutions are seeking solutions to challenges that are unique to their status as HSIs. This conference will document the intersecting needs, barriers, successes, opportunities, and priorities of existing and emerging rural HSIs. The expected outcomes include models for partnerships and collaborations among geographically dispersed partners, frameworks for industry engagement, improved understanding of effective practices in STEM teaching and learning, improved understanding of cultural relevance for students in rural communities, and best practices and approaches that improve the success of rural HSIs in obtaining external funding.

The conference aims to lay a foundation for understanding challenges and potential solutions for rural HSIs that, when addressed, will increase quality of life and economic success for the people of these communities. The conference will build on the NSF-funded University of Arizona HSI Conference: Transforming STEM Education in Hispanic Serving Institutions - Regional Insights from the Southwest (NSF 1748526). The proposed three-day Rural STEM HSI Conference will examine themes in undergraduate STEM education including: (1) K-12, Two-Year, and Four-Year Partnerships; (2) Career and Workforce Preparation; (3) Innovative STEM Teaching and Learning; (4) Student Support Strategies; (5) Culturally Responsive Education; and (6) External funding. The results will be compared to those from the previous University of Arizona HSI Conference via a qualitative study that integrates within-case and across-case analytic strategies. This comparison will augment knowledge and understanding about the specific challenges and opportunities in STEM undergraduate education at rural HSIs. The conference will generate a report to provide guidance on how to best serve the needs of STEM students at rural HSIs. The conference results will be disseminated to governmental agencies and higher education organizations via presentations at regional and national conferences. The long-term impact of this work will be to help rural HSIs position themselves as drivers to increase access to high-quality educational opportunities and develop the STEM workforce that will impact rural economic prosperity. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Mary Gilliland
AZTempe1949750Arizona State UniversityIntergovernmental Personnel AwardErika Camacho
AZTempe1953763Maricopa County Community College DistrictWork-focused Experiential Learning to Increase STEM Student Retention and Graduation at Two-year Hispanic-serving Institutions With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program, this Track 1 project seeks to provide students with mentored work experiences in computer information systems. Students will have access to on-campus work experiences and externships in businesses and industries. Examples of potential student projects include mobile application development, cybersecurity, and computer support. It is expected that these experiences will increase undergraduate student interest, persistence, and success in computer information systems, as well as in STEM more broadly. To ensure that they are well-prepared for and gain the most from their work experiences, students will receive training on employability skills such as communication, teamwork, and project management. During their work experiences, students will be mentored by faculty, industry professionals, and peers. To strengthen the capacity of faculty to serve all students, including Hispanic students, the project will provide faculty with professional development focused on equity mindset. The framework to provide mentored work experiences will be developed and piloted at Phoenix College, then expanded to four other two-year HSIs in the region. The project also intends to expand this framework to other STEM fields. Through this work, the project aims to develop a replicable model for how two-year institutions can develop work experiences that foster increased student graduation and entry into STEM career pathways.

This project seeks to examine how a curriculum that integrates cross-sector partnerships to provide work experiences can enhance STEM learning and retention. Using mixed methods and grounded theory, this project will expand knowledge about: (1) the impact of cross-sector partnerships that support work-focused experiential teaching and learning; (2) systematic ways to maintain and better use cross-sector partnerships; and (3) the degree to which a model of work-focused learning experiences can be adopted at other two-year HSIs and by other STEM fields. Expected results of the project include: development of sustainable mechanisms to foster cross-sector partnerships; increased student retention and workforce readiness; and measurable successes for STEM students, particularly Hispanic students, at two-year HSIs. Significant findings and research results will be presented at meetings of the HSI STEM Hub, at conferences at professional societies that support HSIs, and in academic publications. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge about how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Paul Ross
AZTucson2033389University of ArizonaRAPID: Student and Instructor Perceptions, Attitudes, and Emotions Surrounding Online Spaces and Institutional Supports during a Pandemic (COVID-19) The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program) supports RAPID projects when there is severe urgency with regard to availability of, or access to, data, facilities or specialized equipment, including quick-response research on natural or anthropogenic disasters and similar unanticipated events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. This project aims to explore challenges faced by students and instructors at HSIs after moving to online formats during COVID-19. Longitudinal surveys and interviews seek to reveal how students and instructors cope with courses moving online, and how course experiences are impacted by this move. The study also aims to identify the resources and supports that are most helpful to students and instructors and to catalog resources that are still needed. The research will include examination of how findings differ for students and instructors from underrepresented and underserved communities (i.e., Latinx and Native American). Data collected will contribute knowledge regarding attitudes and coping processes during crises. Results seek to inform best practices for HSIs during recovery from this pandemic.

Low perceived control over outcomes and fear of performing worse than peers affect coping skills and attitudes among undergraduates. College and minority stress, likely augmented by this pandemic, exacerbate depression, in turn reducing persistence. Moreover, resources necessary for success (e.g., internet) are not always accessible to underserved communities. One-hour online surveys and 1.5-hour semi-structured interviews will be conducted across Arizona HSIs in May-June, August-September, and October-November 2020. Surveys will include rating scales (e.g., sense of belonging). Interviews, oversampling from underrepresented populations, will include think aloud protocols and questions about resources and course experiences. This mixed methods project will contribute knowledge of attitudinal and emotional processes and reactions to institutional supports. Identified institutional and instructional practices will inform recovery from this pandemic. Preliminary results will be shared with HSIs and the broader community via the NSF HSI Hub, brief reports, webinars, and a project website. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This RAPID award is made by the HSI Program in the Division of Human Resource Development, Directorate of Education and Human Resources, using funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Elizabeth Pope
AZTucson2037922University of ArizonaConference: Measuring the Success of Institutional Efforts at Hispanic-Serving Institutions With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this conference aims to develop and test a series of measures to assess how HSIs achieve success in their efforts to serve their diverse students and improve STEM learning. While many indicators assess individual student retention and graduation, there is less consensus on how to measure the systemic changes needed to improve student learning and graduation rates. By bringing together practitioners from HSIs and scholars to co-develop measures of institutional change at HSIs, we expect to develop and test a series of measures to support work at a diverse set of HSIs, including community colleges, Primarily Undergraduate Institutions, and research-intensive universities.

The specific aims of the project are to operationalize a framework for servingness developed to conceptualize institutional changes necessary to improve educational attainment for the diverse student population at HSIs. The conference will specifically develop and test measures of change for: research development and success; faculty engagement with STEM curricular change and students; faculty success measures; STEM undergraduate student success measures; community engagement; and diverse cultural engagement and recognition. We expect that the identification and use of change measures will assist universities in improving the likelihood of student STEM degree attainment at HSIs. The work will be disseminated broadly through conference participation, publications, and the use of the measures at a diverse group of HSIs around the U.S. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Beth Mitchneck
AZTempe2120021Arizona State UniversityNSF INCLUDES Alliance: ALRISE - Accelerate Latinx Representation In STEM Education with Institutional Intentionality and Capacity Building for Experiential Learning The ALRISE Alliance is developing a network of faculty, staff, administrators, and students at 2-yr and 4-yr Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) and emerging HSIs (eHSIs) to accelerate Latinx representation in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education. Challenges such as (1) campus environments that are not intentionally culturally-responsive to Latinx STEM students; (2) deficit mindsets of STEM educators that devalue Latinx students’ strength and resilience; (3) Latinx STEM retention and graduation rates that are significantly lower than enrollment; and (4) the underrepresentation of Latinx professionals in STEM job clusters compound broadening participation efforts. These factors place a necessity for change on institutions, educators, and employers to intentionally harness Latinx students’ assets and create a more welcoming environment that fosters reproducible success. The ALRISE Alliance provides professional development for faculty, staff and industry to serve Latinx students with intentionality through culturally-responsive undergraduate research and work-based experiential learning.

Uniquely focused on the intersectionality of Latinx STEM students and experiential learning, ALRISE fills an important gap in ongoing broadening participation efforts, with its focus on culturally-responsive experiential learning in an action-oriented and data-driven environment of continuous improvement and collaboration. The Networked Improvement Community (NIC) collaborative infrastructure of the ALRISE Alliance will mobilize large-scale change through shared vision, partnerships, common goals and metrics, leadership and communication, and potential for expansion, sustainability, and scale. The ALRISE backbone organization, Science Foundation Arizona Center for STEM at Arizona State University, provides leadership and communications structures to connect and collaborate amongst four Regional Hubs that coordinate a total of 26 HSI/eHSI institutional members and their STEM Planning educator teams. Partner subgroups defined by professional expertise in experiential learning and intentionality, undergraduate research, work-based experiences and advocacy and policy will provide services for assessing and developing intentionality across the Alliance. A continuous improvement cycle will be used to effect change locally while also improving the ALRISE Alliance and processes. Quantitative and qualitative data will be collected and analyzed at the student, institutional, and experiential learning program levels to provide evidence for practices supported and disseminated by ALRISE. Triangulated findings from multi-level mixed methods research, and outcomes from formative and summative evaluation, will advance knowledge on culturally responsive practices, HSI intentionality, and as-yet undiscovered common challenges and synergies within and across Alliance members. Instilling intentionality to serve Latinx students at the institutional level, and through asset-oriented educator professional development and coaching, will build capacity to effect change at each member institution. This capacity-building approach will not only serve the Latinx students actively engaged in experiential learning programs but also retain the knowledge and programs to impact a far greater number of students in the future.

The ALRISE Alliance is funded by NSF Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (NSF INCLUDES), a comprehensive national initiative to enhance U.S. leadership in discoveries and innovations by focusing on diversity, inclusion and broadening participation in STEM at scale and the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (NSF IUSE): Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) program, which supports efforts to enhance the quality of undergraduate STEM education and to increase the recruitment, retention, and graduation rates of students pursuing associate's or baccalaureate degrees in STEM.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Caroline VanIngen-Dunn
AZTucson2150530University of ArizonaCollaborative Research: HSI Implementation and Evaluation Project: Transfer Students’ Success in Quantum Information Science and Engineering With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 2 project will develop an interdisciplinary field of national importance, Quantum Information Science, by supporting the transfer of community college students into quantum information science related majors including Electrical and Computer Engineering, Optical Sciences and Engineering, Computer Science, and Physics. The project will employ evidence-based practices to engage, guide, and support community college students to explore quantum information science as a career choice. These high-impact practices will support a diverse group of students as they pursue quantum information science and will improve student outcomes and inclusivity for this critical, yet nascent workforce. This work will help to inform others on the transfer experiences of community college students as they transition to four-year colleges. The project will generate new knowledge about (1) transfer process gaps and bottlenecks, (2) administrator attitudes and perceptions of the transfer process across institutions, and (3) the degree to which students’ status as underrepresented and/or low-income correlates with their negative perceptions of the transfer process. This project will generate knowledge on institutional transfer readiness, increase community college student interest in quantum information science, and facilitate student transfers into a four-year university through summer research experiences, faculty and peer mentoring, and cross-institutional advising mapping.

This project leverages the NSF Engineering Research Center for Quantum Networks and aims to encourage community college students’ transfer into quantum-related 4-year STEM majors. Community college students will participate in summer research experiences at the Center for Quantum Networks universities as well as a variety of development and technical workshops. This will be augmented with peer and faculty mentoring and a peer-led retreat. Academic advisors from the community college and the university will convene to develop a crosswalk of program requirements. The project team will perform a gap analysis of existing 4-year university support programs and will survey administrators and students to gather their perceptions of the transfer process. This project leverages institutional coordination to ensure that successful programming and initiatives occur systematically across campuses and within STEM disciplines. Dissemination plans include publication of results in the INCLUDES network, through the Center’s website and the affiliated Quantum Resource Hub, whose audience includes industry and academic researchers, educators, and students. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs are supported by this program.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Allison Huff
AZTucson2150532Pima County Community College District- NORTHWEST CAMPUSCollaborative Research: HSI Implementation and Evaluation Project: Transfer Students’ Success in Quantum Information Science and Engineering With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 2 project will develop an interdisciplinary field of national importance, Quantum Information Science, by supporting the transfer of community college students into quantum information science related majors including Electrical and Computer Engineering, Optical Sciences and Engineering, Computer Science, and Physics. The project will employ evidence-based practices to engage, guide, and support community college students to explore quantum information science as a career choice. These high-impact practices will support a diverse group of students as they pursue quantum information science and will improve student outcomes and inclusivity for this critical, yet nascent workforce. This work will help to inform others on the transfer experiences of community college students as they transition to four-year colleges. The project will generate new knowledge about (1) transfer process gaps and bottlenecks, (2) administrator attitudes and perceptions of the transfer process across institutions, and (3) the degree to which students’ status as underrepresented and/or low-income correlates with their negative perceptions of the transfer process. This project will generate knowledge on institutional transfer readiness, increase community college student interest in quantum information science, and facilitate student transfers into a four-year university through summer research experiences, faculty and peer mentoring, and cross-institutional advising mapping.

This project leverages the NSF Engineering Research Center for Quantum Networks and aims to encourage community college students’ transfer into quantum-related 4-year STEM majors. Community college students will participate in summer research experiences at the Center for Quantum Networks universities as well as a variety of development and technical workshops. This will be augmented with peer and faculty mentoring and a peer-led retreat. Academic advisors from the community college and the university will convene to develop a crosswalk of program requirements. The project team will perform a gap analysis of existing 4-year university support programs and will survey administrators and students to gather their perceptions of the transfer process. This project leverages institutional coordination to ensure that successful programming and initiatives occur systematically across campuses and within STEM disciplines. Dissemination plans include publication of results in the INCLUDES network, through the Center’s website and the affiliated Quantum Resource Hub, whose audience includes industry and academic researchers, educators, and students. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs are supported by this program.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Emily Halvorson-Otts
AZTempe2201943Arizona State UniversityImmersive, Interdisciplinary, Identity-based Team Science Experiences for Indigenous Graduate Scholars This project aims to re-imagine the structure and outcomes of STEM research at the graduate level, by providing Immersive, Interdisciplinary, Identity-based Team Science Experiences (IIITSEs) to solve challenges that have emerged as human activity has led to significant impacts on the planet's climate and ecosystems. IIITSEs are collaborative, culturally affirming, and solutions-oriented research projects that center diverse knowledge systems to respond to community needs, support cohorts of racially diverse faculty and students, and promote a just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive campus and community within and beyond the STEM disciplines. The current societal moment has laid bare structural inequities and injustice within the academy. In particular, the system for graduate education in STEM does not foster an environment for Indigenous scholars to thrive. To address this problem, diverse identities, critical scholarship, sovereignty, and self-determination must be centered. This project will engage Indigenous graduate students at Arizona State University in immersive learning experiences led by a faculty cohort of predominantly Indigenous and Latinx scholars. These immersive learning experiences will allow students to develop critical skills in collaboration, communication, and problem solving while also cultivating a space for deep reflection, cultural affirmation, and empowerment. The learning community aims to 1) promote interdisciplinary collaboration in STEM, 2) elevate Indigenous faculty collaboration across disciplines and across the institution, and 3) support culturally affirming research experiences for graduate students in STEM.

The IIITSE concept is underpinned by the inclusive pedagogical approach of the “Four R’s” (Respect, Relevance, Reciprocity, Responsibility) framework for Indigenous student success in higher education. Integration of the 4Rs framework into STEM pedagogy can take many forms, including classroom and research curricula that use cultural knowledge and practices. Such approaches produce positive outcomes of Indigenous student success in undergraduate STEM courses; however, it remains unclear how transferring these principles to graduate-level STEM research will influence student perceptions and outcomes, or how it might translate into lasting institutional changes that support racial equity for Indigenous scholars. This project aims to answer an overarching research question: How does integration of the 4Rs framework into graduate research via IIITSEs improve outcomes and increase racial equity for Indigenous people? The project will evaluate how well the program adheres to the 4Rs, and how the 4Rs relate to racial equity in STEM for graduate Indigenous scholars. Qualitative methods will include interviews of students, faculty, staff, and community members who participate in the IIITSE program. Using the 4Rs approach, racial equity will be enacted through all parts of the research process, while simultaneously studying the progress and sharing findings so that changes to research initiatives can be implemented and transformation of graduate education can be accelerated.

This project is funded by the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EHR Racial Equity). The program supports projects that promote racial equity in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce development through research and practice. Awarded projects center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by the inequities caused by systemic racism in STEM fields. This program aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Melissa Nelson
AZTempe2211811Maricopa County Community College DistrictImproving STEM Education at HSI Community Colleges by Introducing High Impact Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program, this conference aims to identify the unique challenges that administrators, staff, faculty and students in the US Southwest urban and rural HSI community colleges face when introducing high-impact educational practices such as Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) in STEM curricula. While the impact of CUREs on student success parameters has been widely demonstrated in research intensive 4-year institutions, little is known of the benefits of CUREs in community colleges and other 2-year educational institutions, specifically those with significant percentages of underserved students, such as HSI community colleges. This conference will provide a platform to discuss lessons learned, to evaluate strategies for improvement, and to identify and provide effective tools to 2-year HSI institutions that are considering the introduction of CUREs in their programs while documenting the needs, barriers, successes, and benefits associated with CURE implementation in STEM HSI community college courses. Conference outcomes will include: equity-minded models for CURE design, implementation, and assessment in line with the needs of HSIs; partnership and collaborative strategies among 4-year colleges and urban and rural 2-year colleges for industry engagement in CURE design and execution; improved understanding of high impact practices in STEM teaching and learning; improved understanding of what constitutes cultural relevance in HSIs; and best practices for improving the success rate of HSIs in obtaining external funding to support high impact educational interventions.

The conference aims to lay a foundation for understanding methodology, benefits and challenges of CURE implementation in HSI CCs, and for establishing strategies of efficient collaboration between 4-year universities, rural and urban community colleges, industry, and community organizations in order to improve the quality of education of underserved student populations. The conference will build on NSF-funded University of Arizona HSI Conference: Transforming STEM Education in Hispanic Serving Institutions - Regional Insights from the Southwest (NSF DUE 1748526) and Central Arizona College HSI Conference: Transforming STEM Education at Rural Hispanic-Serving Institutions Across the Nation (NSF DUE 1940949) and will increase knowledge and understanding of the specific challenges and opportunities that introducing high impact educational strategies such as CUREs represent for STEM undergraduate education at 2-year HSIs and how to better serve the needs of students. The conference will generate a report with conference outcomes, recommendations, and resources. Conference results will be disseminated to governmental agencies and higher education organizations via appropriate educational research journals, presentations at regional and national conferences, and institutional social media outlets. Conference findings will inform funding priorities for high impact educational interventions in HSIs, and provide effective models for student engagement and collaboration with industry and other community organizations, ultimately impacting career preparedness of students attending HSIs. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Anna Marti-Subirana
AZTucson2222018University of ArizonaResearch on Educational Equity and Diversity in STEM This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).

This project will provide opportunities for postdoctoral fellows to engage with STEM educational practices within the context of a research-intensive Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI). The project team will create research opportunities for a diverse cohort of fellows, foster research on diversity and equity in STEM undergraduate education, support inclusive and equitable research environments for the fellows, and develop the postdoctoral researchers’ capacity to utilize and advance equitable practices as early-career STEM educators. The project will advance the scholarship about broadening participation in STEM and contribute to the professional development of a community of scholars and practitioners who are committed to improving educational practices in STEM.

The cohort of postdoctoral fellows will develop a research agenda exploring the relationship between culturally responsive practices and several critical outcomes, including i) the impact of culturally responsive practices on early STEM interest, success, and persistence; ii) STEM transfer rates; iii) STEM identity; and iv) sense of belonging in STEM. Rich data from already established research projects will afford fellows the opportunity for project leadership experiences with mentor support, enabling analysis and dissemination of results through presentations and publications. Under the leadership of each mentor, four research projects will ground the fellows’ work and serve to frame their independent research agendas. Attention to the professional development of the fellows will be woven throughout their experience such that learning and development will be a spiraling process of growth through reflection and enhancement. In particular, each fellow will create an individual development plan that will serve as a framework to assess their skills, interests, and abilities, to communicate with mentors, and to implement activities to achieve academic and professional goals.

This project was submitted in response to the STEM Education Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (STEM Ed PRF) competition. The STEM Ed PRF program is designed to enhance the research knowledge, skills, and practices of recent doctorates in STEM, STEM Education, and related disciplines to enhance their preparation to engage in fundamental and applied research in STEM education.

This project is being supported with co-funding by the HSI Program which aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Heather Haeger
AZTucson2225157University of ArizonaHSI Implementation and Evaluation Project: Building Paths to Civil Engineering Student Success With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this project aims to develop and document successful approaches to broaden access to academic success in civil engineering and improve persistence for underserved students. Appropriate support must be provided to help capable students as they transition to and move through an engineering program. A range of interventions have shown to have positive impacts individually but a comprehensive evaluation on their relative value from a programmatic perspective is lacking. These academic support and mentoring activities are expected to heighten students’ sense of belonging at a large university and build their identity as engineers. This research will quantitatively evaluate the impact of a holistic set of evidence based activities on persistence, retention, advancement rate and overall academic performance to identify the most promising interventions for inclusion and diversity in engineering programs.

To assess effectiveness, an intersectional study will identify the interventions that provide the most meaningful support services for underserved groups in engineering including URM, women, and Pell recipients. Cohorts will include engineering students admitted under new admission criteria, with and without support interventions. Impacts will be assessed by quantitative measures (retention, advancement toward degree, probation status, GPA, etc.) and qualitative themes from personal narratives collected from individual interviews and focus groups. The interventions are guided by three objectives. First is to promote a sense of belonging within the academic program through focused peer and faculty mentoring and participation in student activities as individuals and in a student cohort. Second is to improve academic performance through academic support courses, tutoring and a summer academic advancement program. Third is to develop their engineering identity through internships, practitioner mentoring, career development/professionalism content, and involvement in engineering clubs. Finally, inclusive mentoring training will be provided to faculty, practitioners, and peers. Results will be shared through journal publications and professional presentations. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Kevin Lansey
AZFlagstaff2317283Northern Arizona UniversityPromoting Student Success through a Social, Academic, and Institutional Support System in Engineering EducationWith support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) Program, this Track 2 project will develop and study a sustainable system of academic, institutional, and social supports (i.e., formal peer-mentoring program) for first-year engineering students at the University of Texas El Paso. The Promoviendo el Éxito Estudiantil a través de un Sistema de Apoyo (PromESA) model offers educational and personal support for students by providing mentees with tutoring, advising and connections to available university services. Equally importantly, the project will provide social-emotional support, provide opportunities to build friendships, and affirm students’ sense of belonging, particularly for Latinx students. PromESA components will specifically account for students’ intersecting identities (e.g., gender, first-generation college student status, cultural heritage). Research findings will inform efforts to provide academic, institutional, and social support for under-served populations while addressing the lack of a sense of belonging experienced by Latinx students in engineering education.

This project will implement a holistic, socio-culturally responsive peer-mentoring program adapted from the evidence-based Promotores de Educación Program developed at California State University at Long Beach. This multidimensional initiative will be guided by four objectives. First is to increase students’ sense of belonging by incorporating holistic, socio-culturally responsive practices into training and professional development for faculty and peer mentors. Second is to build awareness of Latinx cultural assets and values into the landscape of the piloting department. Third is to increase participating students’ retention, persistence, and academic performance in their engineering degree programs. Fourth is to establish structures and policies to institutionalize major project components beyond the award period. The embedded action research effort will use a combination of qualitative and participatory research methods to offer a fuller understanding of the impact of peer-mentoring programs for students from historically minoritized/marginalized populations. The research will specifically examine how such programs can impact participants and narrow the knowledge gap on the impacts of peer-mentoring programs for Latinx students pursuing engineering degrees, particularly when leveraging their cultural strengths and their intersectional identities. Furthermore, the knowledge generated will provide the engineering education research community with a deeper understanding of the unique experiences and perspectives of Latinx students.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Cole Joslyn
CAFullerton1764323CSU Fullerton Auxiliary Services CorporationHSI Conference: Dissecting the STEM Education Ecosystem in Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs):Regional Insights from Southern California California State University Fullerton will conduct a three-day regional conference focused on the STEM education ecosystem at Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) to identify the most critical challenges and opportunities in STEM undergraduate education and actionable solutions that may be relevant to the mission of the National Science Foundation. The conference is framed and guided by a theoretical model that integrates social cognitive career theory and prior literature on factors related to minority students' academic choices and outcomes. The conference will host 80 participants from eight critical stakeholder groups to discuss six themes: (1) Preparing pre-college students - gaps in and opportunities for entering STEM majors, (2) Transforming the first-year college experience - innovative educational technology and inclusive pedagogies for student learning and retention in STEM, (3) Smoothing transitions from two- to four-year HSIs - opportunities and challenges for institutional partnerships, (4) Building coalitions among stakeholders in undergraduate research experience - opportunities and challenges for student persistence, (5) Removing academic barriers - gaps and opportunities for academic remediation, and (6) Sustaining ecosystems at HSI campuses - social and cultural inclusiveness for student success.

The conference will use the Appreciative Inquiry (AI) methodology to guide the panel discussions of the six conference themes, each representing an aspect in the STEM education process in the ecosystem. Using this approach, participants will develop a shared vision for change and innovation by focusing on HSIs' greatest assets, capabilities, capacities, and resources to create new possibilities for student success. The expected deliverable is a comprehensive report that will serve as an evidence-based synthesis to support the establishment of a center for undergraduate STEM education at HSIs. The event is intended also to result in coalitions of partners to continue discussions about improving STEM undergraduate education at HSIs.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Yusheng Liu
CASacramento1832335University Enterprises, IncorporatedBuilding Capacity: STEM Faculty Professional Learning in the Zone of Proximal Development The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program) aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI program will also generate new knowledge about how to achieve these aims. This project fulfills part of those aims by building institutional capacity for improving undergraduate STEM teaching and learning. This project, a collaboration between California State University-Sacramento and the University of California-Irvine, will support efforts to improve the teaching effectiveness of STEM faculty and to advance knowledge about strategies that lead to increased use of evidence-based and equity-minded teaching strategies. Using online, hybrid, and face-to-face training formats, the project will provide customized professional learning programs to help STEM faculty improve their teaching. The training will also help faculty become aware of the roles of diversity, intercultural competence, and critical consciousness in the development and persistence of students, including those who are underrepresented in STEM. The faculty learning programs will be designed to meet faculty where they are in their professional career and in their understanding of equitable classroom practices. Over the project's funding period, the investigators estimate that the project will help approximately 125 faculty implement evidence-based and equity-minded teaching strategies. These faculty have the potential to improve the learning of more than 37,000 science and math undergraduate students, as well as to broaden the participation and success of students underrepresented in STEM.

Developmental and adaptive over time, the faculty development curriculum will include 1) fundamental teaching and learning skills; 2) discipline specific, evidence-based best practices; and 3) scholarship and critical consciousness for equity and institutional change. It will implement and assess a model to transform STEM cultural practices that focuses on faculty. Using a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches, large amounts of faculty and student data will be disaggregated to examine the impact of a developmental set of faculty professional learning programs. Instructional and curricular products created by faculty in these programs and their effect on student learning in developmental math, gateway, and lower division math and science courses will be analyzed. A quantitative, quasi-experimental study using institutional and program data, and a qualitative longitudinal study using observation and interview data will examine how faculty and students change because of STEM faculty participation in a learning program that is customized to their zone of proximal development.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Lynn Tashiro
CANorthridge1832345The University Corporation, NorthridgeResource Hub: The NSF National Resource Hub for STEM Education at Hispanic-Serving Institutions The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program) aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims. This collaborative project at New Mexico State University, Dona Ana Community College, and California State University, Northridge, will advance the aims of the HSI Program by establishing the NSF National Resource Hub for STEM Education at Hispanic-Serving Institutions. This HSI Resource Hub will help HSIs develop the strategies and processes to obtain the resources needed to improve the quality and outcomes of undergraduate STEM education. It will also support efforts to build institutional capacity for advancing the STEM careers of students and faculty at HSIs. The HSI Resource Hub aims to achieve these goals by building a national network of all HSIs; providing training, mentorship, and peer review to improve grant-writing practices; enabling institutions to identify and fill gaps in their capacity to obtain funding, and to develop administrative tools for conducting STEM research; providing training on diversity, equity, and inclusion issues relevant to STEM education; and disseminating resources that support evidence-based, inclusive teaching practices that increase student retention and graduation. This project has the potential to advance knowledge about how to enhance undergraduate STEM education, how to build research capacity, and how to obtain resources for these efforts, at HSIs and other institutions.

The HSI Resource Hub aspires to reach the more than 450 HSIs in the US, with special focus on including those institutions that have received little or no prior NSF support. The project aims to build HSI collaborations that can support existing STEM research, increase STEM research capacity, and encourage implementation of leading-edge pedagogy in STEM education. Regional conferences, workshops, online networking platforms, certifications, and a mini-grant program for junior faculty will support broad participation and enhance professional expertise in writing effective grant proposals. Gap analysis and collaborations will help HSIs identify and develop the infrastructure needed to manage successful STEM research and education projects. Evaluation of the HSI Resource Hub will use quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methodologies to provide data that will guide and refine the project throughout the funding period. The HSI Resource Hub activities and outcomes will be disseminated through a dedicated website, conference presentations, workshops, newsletters, publications, and social media. By uniting HSIs across the nation, the HSI Resource Hub is expected to have positive impacts on increasing the degree completion rates of students pursuing STEM degrees, thus enhancing the diversity of the US STEM workforce.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Mariaelena Zavala
CASylmar1832348Los Angeles Mission CollegeBuilding Capacity: An Intervention to Improve Success of Biology Majors in Mathematics The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program) aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims. This project at Los Angeles Mission College will advance the aims of the HSI Program by developing a student-centered intervention to support the success of undergraduate biology students. The project aims to increase the success of biology majors in their courses at Los Angeles Mission College and in transfer to four-year universities. This project plans to achieve these aims through weekly academic success workshops that help biology majors pass college algebra and trigonometry courses. This intervention is expected to stimulate student engagement in biology through mathematics, which will increase student success and retention in gateway mathematics courses and persistence in the major.

The goals of this project are to increase the persistence, success, retention rates, and transfer rates of biology majors, with a focus on those in college algebra and trigonometry courses. By making the quantitative aspects of biology more engaging and relevant via academic success workshops, the project aims to increase student success and retention rates in college algebra and trigonometry. The academic success workshops will facilitate student peer learning that are designed to increase a sense of community among students. Faculty from Los Angeles Mission College and the University of California, Los Angeles, will develop the supplemental materials and refine them via feedback provided through implementation of academic success workshops at Los Angeles Mission College. This project will also hold workshops for faculty from other institutions seeking to enhance the quantitative experience of their biology majors. The project will investigate the impact of supplemental materials used in academic success workshops on student success in college algebra and trigonometry, persistence to calculus, and successful transfer to four-year universities. The project will analyze performance of students who attended the academic success workshops to students who did not. The project will develop a model that targets a diverse student population in the biological sciences that may increase success, retention, and degree completion rates via contextualized mathematics in the biological sciences.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Parvaneh Mohammadian
CARiverside1832357Riverside Community College District/Riverside City CollegeBuilding Capacity: Guiding Critical Transitions to the Baccalaureate The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program) aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims. This project at Riverside City College will advance the aims of the HSI Program by developing and analyzing the impact of six interventions for Riverside College Promise Program students who have declared STEM majors. The interventions include a summer bridge program from high school to college, home courses, college and career workshops, research experiences, near-peer mentoring, and cross-enrollment courses. The project seeks to increase retention within STEM programs at Riverside City College as well as increase the transfer rates to baccalaureate STEM degrees at four-year institutions such as California State University, San Bernardino and the University of California, Riverside. Project collaborators from these institutions will lead summer research for Riverside City College students; faculty from the University of California, Irvine will conduct educational research related to the project. Through interventions and partnerships, this project seeks to increase undergraduate retention, enrollment, and graduation and transfer rates in STEM degree programs.

This project will investigate the impact of a program and its sub-components on student academic performance and STEM degree attainment. The project seeks to determine the most critical components in improving student academic outcomes and persistence, particularly for low-income and traditionally underrepresented minorities. The project will also investigate factors essential to student success in navigating the critical transitions from high school to two-year college and from two-year college to four-year university. The project study will include a quantitative research component that employs a rigorous quasi-experimental design to understand the impact of the project on student academic outcomes. The project will gather data on the impact of the interventions on the rates of students earning a STEM baccalaureate degree. A qualitative research component will produce an understanding about how each sub-component contributes to an objective outcome measure and will ascertain perceptions about the sub-component, student involvement levels, and potential implementation barriers. Results of this research will be shared with other institutions seeking to build STEM degree programs via interventions.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Virginia White
CAPomona1832405Cal Poly Pomona Foundation, Inc.Building Capacity: Polytechnic for All: STEM Undergraduate Success via an Inclusive Institution The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program) aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI program will also generate new knowledge about how to achieve these aims. This project at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, will advance the aims of the HSI Program by developing and implementing a multi-faceted approach to enhance student learning and success in STEM. First, the project will compare the impact of two different motivational interventions on student learning. One intervention targets students' sense of how the course material is personally relevant or useful in their lives; the other intervention helps students realize that worries about belonging in college are normal, transient, and improve over time. Second, the project will create opportunities for faculty to study, design, and use inclusive practices, including active learning. Third, the project will study the impact of a peer-led supplemental instruction program focused on second-year engineering courses. The project activities and outcomes can advance our understanding of how faculty learn to create an inclusive classroom. Moreover, the project can illuminate the impact that different approaches to inclusiveness have on students' academic success, motivation, and well-being.

This project aims to promote creation of inclusive classroom environments. The project will employ two motivational interventions that seek to promote student STEM success in critical transition courses. One intervention focuses on increasing students' understanding of how the content is relevant; the other targets students' sense of social belonging in college-level STEM courses. To assess the efficacy of the motivation interventions, the project will use randomized, controlled trials to determine how the two psychosocial treatments affect the academic success and well-being of students enrolled in first year physics and calculus courses. The impact of faculty professional development efforts will be examined with mixed methods approaches, including pre-post surveys, teaching strategies inventories, and interviews. The impact of the peer-led supplemental instruction program will be determined by comparing outcomes for a matched set of students who do and do not participate in the program. Measures for this facet of the project include course grades, sense of self-efficacy, motivation, and content knowledge. This project will generate new knowledge about how to implement inclusive STEM teaching reforms anchored in an understanding of motivation and social-psychological factors that lead to increased student success in STEM.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Paul Beardsley
CASalinas1832446Hartnell CollegeLinkBuilding Capacity: Engaging Stem Transformative Experiences for Early Momentum The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program) aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge about how to achieve these aims. This project at Hartnell College will advance the aims of the HSI Program by creating transformative early experiences in STEM research that will help equip students to overcome obstacles to success in STEM programs. To this end, it will develop short research experiences that are structured in a workshop format. These experiences, called "Stepping Stones," will be designed to support broad student participation. It is predicted that the Stepping Stones research experiences will provide similar benefits as those that have been documented for longer research experiences. The project will directly affect the higher education experience of more than 1,000 community college students. Anticipated student outcomes include increased degree completion at Hartnell College and increased transfer to a baccalaureate STEM degree program. The project is a collaboration with Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) Science Learning, a non-profit organization that aims to transform science education through research-driven innovation. Beyond its impact on developing and researching the Stepping Stone approach, this partnership has the potential to strengthen the research capacity at Hartnell College.

This project seeks to enhance interest, persistence, confidence, preparation, and success of students in STEM. The Stepping Stone approach is designed to provide students with access to STEM research early in their college education. Each Stepping Stone uses a collaborative inquiry approach to engage groups of students in the investigation of an authentic STEM research project. Each Stepping Stone has a short duration and a flexible schedule, and enables students to apply design heuristics and to produce meaningful, visible products. The partnership with BSCS Science Learning will leverage experts and practitioners in the development of and research on evidence-based methods to broaden participation of STEM students. The project will investigate the impact of the Stepping Stones, including whether their systematic implementation within the STEM program improves student outcomes. The project will also analyze how collaborative faculty workshops influence the design of the Stepping Stones and how the design heuristics manifest in the Stepping Stones to improve student engagement and success. Both qualitative and quantitative data will be collected and analyzed to determine the impact of the project. This project seeks to develop a model that provides authentic research experiences for large numbers of undergraduate students. If successful, this model may be implemented at other colleges that have a diverse student body, and that seek to increase student engagement, persistence, confidence, retention, and success in STEM programs.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Mohammed Yahdi
CALos Angeles1832472Mount Saint Mary's UniversityBuilding Capacity: Building Capacity of Women in STEM The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program) aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge about how to achieve these aims. This project at Mount Saint Mary's University will advance the aims of the HSI Program by increasing retention in STEM, and preparing students for research and other opportunities in STEM. Through this project, Mount Saint Mary's University aims to improve the quality of STEM education for its undergraduate students, the majority of whom are Hispanic women. The purpose of this project is three-fold: 1) increase student interest, motivation, and retention in STEM; 2) prepare students for external research opportunities, internships, and future employment opportunities in STEM; and 3) increase student interest in conducting STEM research and attending graduate school. Aligned with this purpose, the project seeks to achieve four outcomes: 1) increased satisfactory completion of undergraduate STEM major courses; 2) increased undergraduate student retention in STEM majors; 3) increased undergraduate participation in research; and 4) increases in the number of STEM graduates who enter graduate school or are employed in STEM fields. By increasing women and Hispanic representation in graduate school and the STEM workforce, the project can contribute to increased diversity and equity in STEM fields.

The project plans to improve undergraduate STEM education by: 1) revising biology, chemistry, and mathematics courses; 2) providing academic support for students in STEM major courses; 3) offering summer programs that prepare students for collegiate STEM courses and future research opportunities; 4) providing students with peer and faculty mentoring support; and 5) supporting research and internship experiences. The University will specifically examine the effect that peer mentoring has on student retention. Although peer mentoring has been examined by other researchers, this project's unique combination of women and Hispanic students, and multi-year mentoring will provide important new information. Both qualitative and quantitative data will be collected. The project will determine the extent to which the participants met the project goals as well as operational objectives. The program will add to the body of knowledge on best practices to engage undergraduate STEM students at both Hispanic-serving institutions and institutions that have large populations of female students.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Jennifer Chotiner
CASan Diego1832528San Diego State University FoundationLinkBuilding Capacity: Undergraduate STEM Transitions, Experiences, and Mobility The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program) aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge about how to achieve these aims. This project at San Diego State University will advance the aims of the HSI Program by transforming the pathways taken by STEM undergraduate students. The project considers student mobility and transitions between multiple institutions in its work to transform STEM degree pathways. Specifically, this project will identify mechanisms of support for students' transitions between two- and four-year colleges, in addition to the multiple movements that might occur prior to this critical transition. This study will provide information about strategies to help students, including underrepresented minorities, to reach their STEM potential. This knowledge is critical, given the large numbers of students from underrepresented groups who are enrolled in community colleges and HSIs.

The overall aim of the proposed project is to examine STEM pathways for students who began their postsecondary education at community colleges, with a specific emphasis on student mobility across multiple institutions. The project will also investigate the specific role of HSIs in these pathways. The research approach will be an integrated mixed methods and multilayered approach using multiple membership random effect modeling, social network analysis, and qualitative narratives, with both regional and national data. This research approach enables a fine-grained and nuanced examination of the barriers and opportunities in STEM for students who may navigate STEM pathways across multiple institutions. This project aims to: 1) identify STEM student mobility patterns and the links between institutions, how these patterns and links affect students, and how they differ across groups; 2) use advanced statistical techniques that account for student mobility across colleges to examine the student characteristics, college experiences, and institutional contexts that contribute to STEM outcomes; and 3) qualitatively deepen and clarify results from this large scale data analysis, and generate insights on the opportunities and challenges for system-wide structures and partnerships.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Felisha Herrera Villarreal
CAFullerton1832536CSU Fullerton Auxiliary Services CorporationLinkBuilding Capacity: Advancing Student Success in Undergraduate Engineering and Computer Science The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program) aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge about how to achieve these aims. This project at California State University-Fullerton will advance the aims of the HSI Program by increasing retention and graduation rates in computer science and engineering and reducing high repetition rates in lower-division STEM courses. Many students encounter challenges unique to their cultural or economic background, such as competing financial responsibilities and family commitments. These challenges can decrease students' capacity to achieve their potential level of performance in college. This project seeks to generate new knowledge about the role of social support mechanisms in helping students overcome these challenges. To this end, the project aims to integrate sociocultural practices, establish strong student-faculty rapport, and involve students in intellectually stimulating, personally relevant learning experiences, and hands-on research experiences in lower-division bottleneck STEM courses. By increasing retention and graduation rates, HSIs such as California State University-Fullerton have a potential to help fill critical gaps and broaden participation in the US STEM workforce.

This project aims to develop contextualized, replicable learning modules; improve curricula and pedagogical approaches; provide faculty development and support; establish effective family and community engagement; and cultivate engaging faculty-student interactions. The learning modules may help researchers and educators in other higher education institutions, including HSIs, to adopt and enhance student learning in lower-division STEM courses. Involving students' families in STEM enrichment activities is predicted to create an enduring awareness in the community, with the potential to motivate future generations of students to pursue STEM careers. Both quantitative and qualitative research data will be collected and will include student outcomes and personal, social, cognitive, and contextual factors that may influence these outcomes. Anticipated student benefits from the project include improved morale, self-efficacy, persistence, and improvement in career-readiness skills, which are essential for the next-generation of scientists and engineers who will sustain the global competitiveness of the US economy.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Sudarshan Kurwadkar
CAMerced1832538University of California - MercedBuilding Capacity: Improving the Undergraduate Chemistry Experience by Green Chemistry, Active-learning, and Peer-led Experiences The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program) aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI program will also generate new knowledge about how to achieve these aims. This project at the University of California, Merced, will advance the aims of the HSI Program by increasing undergraduate student interest and success in chemistry. The project will redesign laboratory courses to use student-guided inquiry and green chemistry, develop a peer-learning environment that builds a sense of community, and develop short videos to complement lower-division chemistry courses. These videos will feature diverse STEM professionals who will connect chemistry concepts learned in the course to how they use these concepts in their current STEM career. Because many students take chemistry courses, this project can contribute to ensuring that a diverse population of students pursue STEM careers.

The project aims to increase student interest, success, and connection to faculty and peers. The project will redesign laboratory courses to enhance student understanding of chemistry content, knowledge of chemistry research, and connection to peers and the broader campus community. The labs will emphasize the environmental implications of chemistry research. Videos that accompany the redesigned labs are expected to increase student knowledge of career paths in chemistry, motivation for chemistry, and student learning and persistence. The videos will be available in English and in the speaker's native language, to foster the development of student STEM identity, in particular for diverse students. Analytics tools available in the learning management system will be used to measure the use of the videos by students. Finally, peer-led team-learning is expected to improve students' conceptual understanding, grades, attitudes, and retention. Student learning outcomes will be assessed by student grades, pre-post surveys, retention in the major, graduation rates, and by observation of classroom and lab interactions. The duration and frequency of student use of the peer-led opportunities will also be tracked and correlated with surveys of student attitudes. The project videos will be freely available to the broader community, with the goal of disseminating these tools to enhance learning of undergraduate chemistry. This project seeks to advance understanding of how to support diverse students' success in chemistry and to connect students with STEM careers.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Erik Menke
CASan Diego1832545National UniversityHSIs New to NSF: Using Ocean Plastic Research to Increase Student Engagement and Persistence in Biology The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program) aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims. This project at National University will advance the aims of the HSI Program by adding research experiences to undergraduate biology courses. Through a collaboration with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, this project will incorporate course-based undergraduate research (CURE) biology courses for biology majors and for non-majors. The research topics will focus on plastic pollution in the ocean. Students taking these CURE courses will gain experiences in the scientific process, which can positively affect their persistence and graduation in biology, as well as their career goals. The project will also develop the pathway from the non-major biology course into the biology major. Thus, National University will build its ability in the biology program, increasing the number of students enrolling in and completing the biology degree program. In addition, dissemination of this CURE model could enable other institutions to achieve similar gains in biology programs, thus broadening the project's impact.

This project will 1) develop and implement CURE modules in undergraduate courses, 2) evaluate the effect of the modules on student perception, engagement, and persistence in biology, and 3) expand CURE modules to other institutions, particularly those with nontraditional students. Through the CURE modules, the project aims to enhance student engagement and increase student retention and completion of the Bachelor of Science in Biology. The CURE modules will use microbiology and molecular biology techniques to study microbial communities colonizing plastic waste in the ocean. Changes in bacterial composition of coastal waters due to plastic pollution could affect local ecosystems and human health in ways that have not yet been determined. Linking topics in the biology courses to a current research problem in a local environment may increase students' interest in pursuing science careers. This project will expand undergraduate biology education to informal settings with a focus on serving nontraditional students in accelerated course settings. The impact of this experience on students' career goals, as well as persistence and graduation in STEM disciplines, will be evaluated through quantitative and qualitative data. Students' personal circumstances and insights will be examined to gain insight on effective institutional policies and support mechanisms. This project will develop a model that may be implemented at other institutions seeking to enhance their biology program via regionally relevant CUREs.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Ana Maria Barral
CATurlock1832558California State University-StanislausLinkBuilding Capacity: Collaboration for Inclusive and Engaging Curriculum, Instruction, and Achievement The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program) aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge about how to achieve these aims. This project at the California State University-Stanislaus (Stanislaus State), will advance the aims of the HSI Program by improving STEM student retention, graduation, and success by developing a STEM faculty culture of evidence-based teaching and student-centered learning environments. Over a four-year period, cohorts of faculty will attend summer teaching institutes, academic year workshops, and peer support groups. It is predicted that this faculty-led professional development program will transform teaching and improve student success across all STEM disciplines at Stanislaus State. If successful, this project could serve as a model for institutional change efforts to improve STEM education at other universities.

The overall goal of this project is to transform the culture of STEM teaching and learning at Stanislaus State by increasing the use of evidence-based and culturally-engaging teaching practices. The project aims to generate new knowledge about: (1) the effectiveness of a faculty-driven professional development program to broadly influence STEM teaching practices; (2) whether implementation of the Culturally Engaging Campus Environments Model among faculty results in measurable improvements in psychosocial indicators of student success at an HSI; and (3) the ways that sustained and collegial professional development activities can produce meaningful changes in the teaching culture of college faculty. Both qualitative and quantitative data will be collected and analyzed. Project impact will be evaluated by measuring the benefits realized by the students it serves. The project will also assess faculty, and will track the processes used to develop, implement, and sustain project activities, to facilitate the adoption of similar programs at other institutions. Through a holistic professional development program that produces widespread changes in the culture of teaching and learning at Stanislaus State, this project plans to double the use of evidence-based teaching practices and decrease the non-pass rate in all STEM gateway courses. In turn, these improvements are expected to support increased performance of students in STEM courses, and increased sense of belonging and higher retention rates among STEM majors.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Matthew Cover
CAMission Viejo1834628Saddleback CollegeCollaborative Research: NSF INCLUDES Alliance: STEM Core Expansion The STEM Core Alliance is an expansion of the basic STEM Core Initiative Design and Development Launch Pilot (NSF Award 1649381), which was implemented in 15 community colleges in three states to broaden participation in STEM disciplines through promoting remedial student advancement to calculus readiness, followed by continuing STEM internship and education. The STEM Core Alliance expands the basic STEM Core model to 17 additional colleges in 5 states through a hub and spoke network, supported by four regional hubs, designed to support continuous improvement, expansion, and replicability. The underlying STEM Core vision is to broaden participation among underprepared community college students through evidence-based practices that address barriers to accessing STEM Pathways. The STEM Core Alliance will seek to contribute to the knowledge base on broadening participation through four levels of action: student, institutional, regional, and national. Under the leadership of Saddleback College and with the expertise of the backbone organization, Growth Sector, 15 community colleges in three states have already implemented and 15 more and two additional states have committed to implement the STEM Core as part of a networked improvement community. They will share best practices, benefit from alliance-wide professional development, analyze data and evaluate the model's effectiveness, and identify additional funding streams to support the model beyond the current project. The regional hub institutions will provide the necessary infrastructure to monitor and assist STEM Core implementation at regional colleges on a continual basis. Multi-stakeholder partnerships with employers will provide STEM Core colleges with internship and work-based learning opportunities with employers and provide employers with a steady stream of qualified STEM students. This model enables the network to be expanded rapidly, as hubs can support 6-12 colleges with moderate investment and technical assistance from the backbone. The nation's thousands of community colleges, with similar missions, structures, and curricula, present a ready-made network for expansion. As the STEM Core expands, the alliance will contribute to the body of knowledge about networked improvement community effectiveness and identify opportunities for collaboration among other NSF INCLUDES alliances. In the short and especially the long term this project will produce, through increasing the participation of underrepresented groups in STEM fields, the benefits of enhancing progress in science and advancing national prosperity and welfare. This NSF INCLUDES Alliance is co-funded by the NSF Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) program, which seeks to increase the retention and graduation rates of students pursuing associate or baccalaureate degrees in STEM.

To address barriers to STEM pathways, the STEM Core vision is to use the evidence-based practices of acceleration, cohort-based learning communities, contextualized learning, intensive support, and integrated internships. Contributions to the knowledge base on broadening participation will be made as follows. At the student level, the Alliance will evaluate the success in calculus readiness and advancement into STEM educational and career pathways for remedial students. At the institutional level, the goal will be for colleges to expand STEM pipelines for remedial students and to address underlying institutional low expectations for remedial students. The regional level goal is for regional hubs to sustain and expand STEM Core implementation in regional and statewide networks, ultimately increasing the number of colleges that implement the STEM Core model. Nationally, the alliance will expand the STEM Core network and impacts by adding colleges that adopt the STEM Core model and by sharing best practices and solutions to scale the STEM Core model nationwide. The regional hub institutions, as well as assisting STEM Core implementation at regional colleges, will coordinate professional development, conduct regular regional meetings and annual national alliance convenings, and coordinate the collection of regional student outcome data. STEM research and work opportunities that are not normally available to community college students will be provided by NASA JPL, Lawrence Livermore National Lab and other national laboratories that will provide internships for STEM Core students, giving them valuable contextualized experiences in STEM fields that may lead to STEM careers. As the backbone organization for the STEM Core Alliance, Growth Sector coordinates alliance-wide activities, communications, collaboration, and data collection and dissemination between Saddleback College, the regional hub institutions, and the 30 partner colleges, as well as the external evaluator and employer partners. The STEM Core Alliance's network incorporates leadership from Saddleback College, Growth Sector in the role of the backbone organization, and regional hubs to coordinate activities among partner colleges. This hub and spoke model enables regional leaders to implement the STEM Core reliably at scale, considering regional differences, populations, and needs in order to adapt the model appropriately.

This NSF INCLUDES Alliance is co-funded by the NSF Improving Undergraduate STEM Education:Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) program, which seeks to increase the retention and graduation rates of students pursuing associate or baccalaureate degrees in STEM.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Jim Zoval
CANorthridge1842386The University Corporation, NorthridgeData Science Program with Career Support and Connections to Industry The NSF's Accelerating Discovery: Educating the Future STEM Workforce supports efforts that can position the future STEM workforce to make bold advances in the NSF Big Ideas (https://www.nsf.gov/about/congress/115/10bigideas.jsp). This Accelerating Discovery project will support the Harnessing the Data Revolution Big Idea by developing a new interdisciplinary workforce training program in Data Science. This program will include course work, research projects linked to emerging data analysis needs in the public and private sectors, and career development for undergraduates in mathematics. The overall goal of the new data science program is to increase the numbers of math majors, including students from populations that are underrepresented in STEM, who enter the data science workforce. California State University Northridge enrolls nearly 40,000 students, 78% of whom receive financial aid. For many of these students, college is a pathway to employment and economic security. However, many math majors feel unsupported in career options other than K-12 education or graduate studies in mathematics. This project will help them explore how data science can lead to careers in industry, government, and non-profit organizations. This project has the potential to help grow the national data science workforce.

The proposed data science program will target STEM undergraduates, particularly applied mathematics and statistics majors. The project has four goals. 1) Develop a data science course, given in flipped-format. Class time will focus on learning technical skills needed in industry. 2) Develop a year-long data science research experience for students. 3) Develop career workshops, seminars with data science practitioners, and links to data scientists employed in industry or government agencies. 4) Enhance interaction between mathematics faculty and local industry and government agencies to define the skills needed for employment. This interaction will help create an employer network interested in hiring the graduates and a student tracking system for industry careers. Over the longer term, this engagement with industry will support a development of an internship-to-career network. The student tracking mechanism will become part of the department's review process. Research on how this program improves student recruitment, retention, and entry into the data science workforce will provide new knowledge about building data science programs that link to potential employers.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Carol Shubin
CAFullerton1912660California State University-Fullerton Auxiliary Services CorporationCollaborative Research: Beyond Procedures: A Research-Based Approach to Teaching Mathematical Methods in Physics This interdisciplinary project brings together physics education research (PER) and research in undergraduate math education (RUME). It combines efforts at identifying and addressing student conceptual difficulties in physics with efforts toward understanding the ways students use and reason about mathematics in physics contexts. The work targets the mathematical methods course, a key course for physics majors as it begins the transition to using advanced calculus, linear algebra, etc. in physics problems and serves as a gateway to the upper-division in physics. The project will strengthen the research base in a portion of the curriculum that has, to this point, largely gone unexamined, and will touch upon, and build upon, work in related areas, such as research on other upper division physics courses, as well as the extensive research base in undergraduate mathematics education. Prior mathematical success is a strong indicator of success in physics, and the gap of knowledge available between what is taught in mathematics courses and physics course may be a significant source of attrition for physics majors that can be addressed through this work.

The project will investigate the development of students' mathematical understanding in the context of learning and understanding middle- and upper-division physics. The team will conduct an integrated program of research, curriculum development, and assessment of topics found in middle- and upper-division physics courses, with particular focus on the sophomore- or junior-level mathematical methods course. The primary objectives of the project are: (a) to conduct research on student understanding of mathematics in upper-division physics contexts, with an emphasis on the core mathematical methods and reasoning covered in an intermediate-level mathematical methods course; and (b) to develop a library of modular curricular materials (such as, student-centered tutorials and Peer Instruction tasks) emphasizing mathematical methods and reasoning suitable for use in a wide variety of upper-division physics courses.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Michael Loverude
CACamarillo1926139California State University Channel IslandsCollaborative Research: Standard: Exploring how scientists on multidisciplinary laboratory teams negotiate expertise and claim legitimacy regarding ethical practice. The increasing diversity and complexity characterizing today's engineering workforce and practice requires new research on the social factors that shape ethics in STEM work. A common approach in research and teaching is to incorporate the social aspects of teamwork, diversity, and ethics into isolated lectures, separate courses, or to treat them as outcome variables. However, this project takes the perspective that ethics is interwoven into everyday STEM work not as a static outcome variable, but rather as a communication-based achievement enacted in the social processes through which STEM work is organized. It tests the hypothesis that in addition to technical, process, or industry expertise, STEM team members can cultivate ethical expertise, a form of knowledge and skills informing appropriate ways of working that is developed through situated experience. This research advances scientific knowledge by systematically investigating if and how different patterns of communication affect ethical climates and ethical behavior within vertically integrated multidisciplinary STEM teams from national and university laboratories. It identifies areas in which misperceptions or misapplication of expertise may act as a barrier to the development of ethical cultures in STEM organizations and explores the ways ethics are learned and shared through ongoing social relationships and interactions. Identifying the social and communicative factors impacting the ethical accomplishment of complex scientific work provides insight into a variety of actions and policies that universities, national labs, and industry partners can use to cultivate ethical and collaborative research climates to aid in the discovery and application of scientific knowledge.

The study combines interview and ethnographic data with social network analysis to examine how different patterns of communication and interaction among members of STEM teams affect their perceptions of ethics in laboratories and how these perceptions impact ethical research climates and the social structures that enable effective and ethical teamwork. Phase 1 utilizes ethnographic methods and grounded thematic analysis of interviews and observations to capture and investigate the everyday practice of participants. Phase 2 builds upon these findings and employs social network analysis to assess the interdependent relationships between the different forms of expertise present in the development of ethical climates, and their relationship to ongoing interactions among team members. Phase 3 integrates these findings and maps them onto extant literature to compare the salient features of each institution and determine the explanatory mechanisms for the cultivation of ethical climates and ethical behavior in STEM teams.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Megan Kenny Feister
CATurlock1928510California State University-StanislausLinkCatalyzing New Practices for the San Joaquin Valley to Innovate Effective Teaching Pedagogies in Lower-Division Mathematics and Chemistry Courses With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 project aims to design, deliver, and test new practices for teaching in STEM at three Hispanic-Serving Institutions which are part of the California State University (CSU) system in the San Joaquin Valley: CSU Stanislaus, CSU Fresno, and CSU Bakersfield. The project will develop and offer innovative summer retreats, called Ideas Labs, for STEM faculty to engage in a novel collaborative process to adapt and develop High Impact Practices (HIPs) using explicit Creative Problem Solving (CPS) methodology.The project will enhance each institution's Faculty Learning Program (FLP) to provide faculty development on HIPs during the academic year. The aim of the project is for STEM faculty to use HIPs in their teaching of mathematics and chemistry courses to improve students' academic performance and retention rates. Air pollution will serve as an overarching theme for the content platform which will be used to enhance the pedagogy in both mathematics and chemistry courses. This project has potential to significantly impact the retention and graduation rates students in the collaborating HSIs, and increase the numbers of underrepresented students in STEM.

The project will be led by three HSIs with a focus on faculty development, including part-time faculty and adjunct faculty, to improve their teaching practice in ways that will improve student achievement, retention, and motivation. Each of the three collaborating institutions will focus on STEM disciplines that present the greatest challenges for their students. CSU Bakersfield will focus on Chemistry, CSU Stanislaus will focus on mathematics, and CSU Fresno will focus on mathematics and chemistry. A team of social science and STEM researchers will lead the project to assess the how the Ideas Labs retreat and FLP better equip STEM faculty to employ HIPs in their pedagogy to enhance student learning. In particular, the project will assess the impact on how the Ideas Labs and FLP improve the persistence and success of the Hispanic, first generation, and/or low-income students in lower-division STEM courses. Project findings seek to represent impact on a large, diverse group of students at the three collaborating HSIs to generate new knowledge on how both new and current HIPs on lead to a more equitable STEM learning experience. The new HIPs designed through the Ideas Lab will be disseminated and shared broadly through various modalities, including presentations at conferences and CSU system meetings and also a project website. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Jessica De Silva
CAIrvine1928554University of California-IrvineImproving the Transition of Community College Students into University STEM Programs Through Cross-Enrollment With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program, this Track 1 project aims to diversify the pool of STEM graduates with bachelor's degrees. The project intends to accomplish this goal by increasing student transfer rates from community colleges to four-year institutions through cross-enrollment in STEM courses. A cross-enrollment program enables students who are enrolled at a community college to also be enrolled in courses at a four-year college. Cross-enrollment programs provide low-cost opportunities for students to become acquainted with a four-year institution's campus by experiencing courses at that institution. This project seeks to increase the number of students participating in cross-enrollment STEM courses with emphasis on increasing cross-enrollment for racial and ethnic minorities. Participating in cross-enrollment programs could enhance a student's confidence in their ability to complete STEM courses and could thus increase transfer rates of community college students into STEM bachelor's degree programs. This project is a collaboration between the University of California, Irvine and three community college partners, Irvine Valley College, Orange Coast College, and Saddleback College. The project team aims to identify the effects of cross-enrollment participation on a student's probability of transferring to a four-year institution and to identify and test methods for improving cross-enrollment programs. Cross-enrollment programs that include community colleges with diverse student populations have the potential to increase transfer rates and thus diversify the pool of STEM graduates at four-year colleges.

This project will examine community college students' perceptions of the benefits of and barriers to cross-enrollment in STEM courses. Based on findings from focus groups and surveys with community college students, administrators, and STEM faculty, the study team will design and implement interventions to increase the number of community college students who are cross-enrolled in STEM courses at the University of California, Irvine. This study aims to examine the effects of cross-enrollment on community college students' probability of transferring to a four-year college and to provide evidence about how to improve the cross-enrollment experience for students in STEM programs. Students will be randomly assigned to receive information alone or information plus additional supports, such as parking passes and vouchers for books and course materials. These students will be followed for up to three years, enabling the project team to examine which supports are most effective for increasing cross-enrollment in STEM courses and to study the effects of cross-enrollment on eventual transfer to a STEM major at a four-year college. The partnership between a four-year university and three area community colleges could be a model for other institutions seeking to expand and diversify the pathways into STEM programs. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Brian Sato 
CABakersfield1928568CSUB Auxiliary for Sponsored Programs AdministrationLinkCatalyzing New Practices for the San Joaquin Valley to Innovate Effective Teaching Pedagogies in Lower-Division Mathematics and Chemistry Courses With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 project aims to design, deliver, and test new practices for teaching in STEM at three Hispanic-Serving Institutions which are part of the California State University (CSU) system in the San Joaquin Valley: CSU Stanislaus, CSU Fresno, and CSU Bakersfield. The project will develop and offer innovative summer retreats, called Ideas Labs, for STEM faculty to engage in a novel collaborative process to adapt and develop High Impact Practices (HIPs) using explicit Creative Problem Solving (CPS) methodology.The project will enhance each institution's Faculty Learning Program (FLP) to provide faculty development on HIPs during the academic year. The aim of the project is for STEM faculty to use HIPs in their teaching of mathematics and chemistry courses to improve students' academic performance and retention rates. Air pollution will serve as an overarching theme for the content platform which will be used to enhance the pedagogy in both mathematics and chemistry courses. This project has potential to significantly impact the retention and graduation rates students in the collaborating HSIs, and increase the numbers of underrepresented students in STEM.

The project will be led by three HSIs with a focus on faculty development, including part-time faculty and adjunct faculty, to improve their teaching practice in ways that will improve student achievement, retention, and motivation. Each of the three collaborating institutions will focus on STEM disciplines that present the greatest challenges for their students. CSU Bakersfield will focus on Chemistry, CSU Stanislaus will focus on mathematics, and CSU Fresno will focus on mathematics and chemistry. A team of social science and STEM researchers will lead the project to assess the how the Ideas Labs retreat and FLP better equip STEM faculty to employ HIPs in their pedagogy to enhance student learning. In particular, the project will assess the impact on how the Ideas Labs and FLP improve the persistence and success of the Hispanic, first generation, and/or low-income students in lower-division STEM courses. Project findings seek to represent impact on a large, diverse group of students at the three collaborating HSIs to generate new knowledge on how both new and current HIPs on lead to a more equitable STEM learning experience. The new HIPs designed through the Ideas Lab will be disseminated and shared broadly through various modalities, including presentations at conferences and CSU system meetings and also a project website. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Lance Talbert
CAChico1928596Chico State EnterprisesLinkDeveloping Faculty Resources of Evidence-based Practices that Improve Learning and Equity in STEM With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program, this Track 1 project aims to support faculty at HSIs developing and using evidence-based instructional strategies and materials that improve learning and equity in STEM courses. The project addresses need of developing STEM education research methods and instruments that focuses on diverse students at HSIs. First, the project seeks to support HSI faculty in implementing, adapting and assessing evidence-based instructional strategies that support equitable outcomes. Second, the project will research potential bias in research-based assessments. Third, the project will use the Learning About STEM Student Outcomes (LASSO) online assessment platform to establish baselines for equity in STEM disciplines. By achieving these three goals, the project aims to build the framework and the set of resources on the scholarship of teaching and learning in a culturally diverse and equitable learning environment.

To address gaps in the literature on evidence-based research to improve learning and equity in STEM courses for students of diverse backgrounds, the project will develop and assess three strands of activities. Strand 1 will identify the motivations for and barriers to faculty at HSIs in engaging in the scholarship of teaching and learning (SOTL). Based on this knowledge, the project will build resources, tools, and workshops that meet the needs of faculty who are working with students from marginalized groups. Central to this support is the LASSO platform, a free online platform for instructors to administer research-based assessments to their students. LASSO provides data collection and analysis support to simplify conducting SOTL in college STEM courses. Strands 2 and 3 will support educators engaging in SOTL by researching potential bias in the research-based assessments themselves and methods commonly used to administer them. This research will ensure the accuracy of the data available to these scholars. To support scholarship on equitable outcomes, the project will use the aggregated LASSO database to both establish baselines for equity in STEM disciplines and identify pedagogies that support equitable outcomes. Equity baselines will provide scholars a comparison for their own studies and courses. The pedagogies that support equity will provide rich areas for them to explore. The outcome of the work will be a framework and set of resources to support scholars at HSIs engaging in SOTL to identify evidence-based practices that improve equity, while addressing issues in the existing literature on equity. The products of the project will be disseminated through various channels including conferences, workshops, publications, and the NSF-funded Learning Assistant Alliance. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Julie Monet
CAFresno1928671California State University-Fresno FoundationCatalyzing New Practices for the San Joaquin Valley to Innovate Effective Teaching Pedagogies in Lower-Division Mathematics and Chemistry Courses With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 project aims to design, deliver, and test new practices for teaching in STEM at three Hispanic-Serving Institutions which are part of the California State University (CSU) system in the San Joaquin Valley: CSU Stanislaus, CSU Fresno, and CSU Bakersfield. The project will develop and offer innovative summer retreats, called Ideas Labs, for STEM faculty to engage in a novel collaborative process to adapt and develop High Impact Practices (HIPs) using explicit Creative Problem Solving (CPS) methodology.The project will enhance each institution's Faculty Learning Program (FLP) to provide faculty development on HIPs during the academic year. The aim of the project is for STEM faculty to use HIPs in their teaching of mathematics and chemistry courses to improve students' academic performance and retention rates. Air pollution will serve as an overarching theme for the content platform which will be used to enhance the pedagogy in both mathematics and chemistry courses. This project has potential to significantly impact the retention and graduation rates students in the collaborating HSIs, and increase the numbers of underrepresented students in STEM.

The project will be led by three HSIs with a focus on faculty development, including part-time faculty and adjunct faculty, to improve their teaching practice in ways that will improve student achievement, retention, and motivation. Each of the three collaborating institutions will focus on STEM disciplines that present the greatest challenges for their students. CSU Bakersfield will focus on Chemistry, CSU Stanislaus will focus on mathematics, and CSU Fresno will focus on mathematics and chemistry. A team of social science and STEM researchers will lead the project to assess the how the Ideas Labs retreat and FLP better equip STEM faculty to employ HIPs in their pedagogy to enhance student learning. In particular, the project will assess the impact on how the Ideas Labs and FLP improve the persistence and success of the Hispanic, first generation, and/or low-income students in lower-division STEM courses. Project findings seek to represent impact on a large, diverse group of students at the three collaborating HSIs to generate new knowledge on how both new and current HIPs on lead to a more equitable STEM learning experience. The new HIPs designed through the Ideas Lab will be disseminated and shared broadly through various modalities, including presentations at conferences and CSU system meetings and also a project website. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Christopher Meyer
CACamarillo1928693California State University Channel IslandsHSI-SMART: STEM Model for Research and Teaching Undergraduate-intervention Program With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 project aims to increase graduation rates and reduce the time to degree completion for all science, mathematics, and engineering majors and to reduce the performance gap existing between Latinx and non-Latinx White students as well as between female and male students. The HSI-STEM Model for Advancing Research and Teaching (HSI-SMART) project will combine a set of four interventions into an integrated whole that spans students' entire undergraduate careers. This project will: facilitate summer advising workshops to create student-faculty relationships before the students' first semester, place appropriate students in key first year gateway classes as paid learning assistants, place students in paid research assistantships, and engage students in classroom activities to reduce anxiety and increase sense of belonging. Direct connection to professors and peers will support the retention of new students, classroom learning assistants will support student participation at its most crucial stage, and both learning- and research-assistantships will keep students engaged with the campus community and focused on their discipline. This program will create a self-propagating student community as Latinx and female students move through the advising workshops and introductory courses and are looped back into the learning and research assistantship programs as they proceed toward graduation.

This project will bring together all STEM disciplines to increase Latinx and female participation, retention, and success by integrating a set of interventions into a coherent training and community-building model. The efficacy of interventions, while otherwise well-established, is not well-documented for Latinx and female student persistence in STEM degrees, particularly at HSIs. The project will address this gap in existing knowledge by addressing questions specifically about Latinx and female students: whether STEM-targeted summer advising sessions affect retention; whether psychological interventions addressing student anxiety and sense of belonging influence introductory course achievement and degree persistence; whether placing near-peers in gateway classrooms affects performance of both students and learning assistant; and whether engaging in research as undergraduates likewise supports a successful transition from novice to graduate. As it will recruit participants from Latinx and female student populations, the project hypothesizes that all these interventions will benefit that target populations' sense of belonging, academic performance, and graduation rates. The project will balance universal interventions with quantitative, controlled-study approaches to measure the importance of the aggregate and isolated interventions in success of Latinx and female students. This scalable, assessable, and integrated model of STEM belonging and achievement will add a critically relevant element to STEM educational literature and practice. More broadly, the project will fundamentally change the social dimension of the STEM student experience by creating and supporting community and inclusion from the moment students walk onto campus until their graduation, and will serve as model for student success and inclusive community building at other HSIs. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
David Gillespie
CASanta Monica1928737Santa Monica CollegeFostering an Equity-minded Student Success Culture in STEM Through Faculty Development The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims. With HSI program support, this Track 1 project at Santa Monica College (SMC) aims to identify, implement and investigate interventions that enhance the success and subsequent graduation of Hispanic and other underrepresented STEM students through the use of culturally responsive and effective classroom-based curricular materials and instructional practices focused on STEM. SMC will bring together the equity-focused work of the college's Science and Research Initiative and the Center for Teaching Excellence to implement a three-pronged approach that includes faculty professional development, pilot and assessment of research-based innovations, and dissemination of project outcomes both internally and externally. This project will target first year and other tenure track STEM faculty and provide them with release time so that they may participate in a 2-year professional development program and allocate the time necessary to develop and implement effective equity-minded interventions in their courses. By assessing the impact of both the innovations and the professional development, SMC will establish a toolbox of effective practices that can be used by STEM and non-STEM faculty, as well as a professional development strategy that can be sustained beyond the grant period for ongoing delivery to new faculty.

The project will build upon research-based effective practice currently underway at SMC's Science and Research Initiative, as well as research from the field, to explore and further assess innovative approaches to community college student success in STEM. The project will identify effective strategies for engaging the faculty in change-focused activities designed to improve student success through critical transitions, thereby helping the numerous colleges across the country that are struggling to bridge the cultural divide between STEM faculty and a culturally diverse student population. The project will assess not only the impact of the proposed innovations on student ability to successfully transition, but also the degree to which the professional development contributes to teaching effectiveness, student sense of belonging and learning, and departmental and institutional culture. Project evaluation will assess the quality of the program and its ability to achieve grant goals and long-term project outcomes, as well as provide ongoing feedback to suggest improvements in implementation. The research focus of this project is to identify effective pedagogical strategies and methods of teaching that positively impact student success and successful transitions. The research will use a quasi-experimental design to assess each intervention, using a combination of both qualitative and quantitative indicators to answer both implementation and outcome evaluation questions. Project summative evaluation and research includes conducting a pre- and post- assessment of all students impacted by the project at both the beginning and end of each academic year, immediately after they graduate, and again one year after program completion. Project data will be disaggregated by race/ethnicity, income status, and gender. Project results will be disseminated at regional and national conferences. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Ciaran Brewster
CACarson1928740California State University-Dominguez Hills FoundationLeveraging a Faculty Community of Practice Model of Professional Learning to Enhance Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STEM Teaching, Learning, and Leadership With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 project aims to build faculty expertise on how to implement evidence-based practices in STEM. This project seeks to broaden STEM faculty's use of inclusive pedagogy and welcoming environments in STEM courses, improve alignment between courses offered at the community colleges and the universities, and support the development of a diverse faculty. Through a collaboration between California State University Dominguez Hills (CSUDH), CSU Long Beach, California Community College Success Network (3CSN), and the CSU's Institute for Teaching and Learning, the project aims to enhance teaching, learning, and leadership. Using a community of practice model of professional learning, the project will develop faculty learning communities that support STEM faculty from CSUDH and the local community colleges on best practices in teaching and learning coupled with identity, culture, context, power, bias, and institutionalized forms of oppression. The project will also examine how alignment of STEM curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment practices between two- and four-year institutions supports transfer student success. As a result, this project aims to build institutional capacity in developing STEM faculty to increase student retention and success, with an emphasis on underrepresented students.

The project will investigate components of effective STEM faculty learning communities rooted in the science of learning and the culture of diverse students. The STEM faculty will then be equipped to reshape curriculum, teaching practices, interactions with students, and collegial interactions. In this project, the unit of change is the STEM faculty member which will then lead to a sustained institutional change that aims to provide an enhanced learning experience for students in STEM. The project will investigate the community of practices?s impact on 1) STEM faculty's development and implementation of evidence-based curriculum design, teaching, and assessment practices; 2) Faculty-student and faculty-faculty interaction (including faculty hiring, mentorship, sponsorship, evaluation, and retention practices), and faculty and students' sense of belonging; and 3) Leadership strategies including how faculty, administrators, and staff interact with, mentor, and evaluate each other in ways that improve the retention of individuals underrepresented within the STEM faculty. The project will use a grounded theory approach to study which elements of the faculty learning communities are most effective in training faculty. Data will be collected to assess impacts on student success based on individual departments and course goals and outcomes. This project seeks to develop an evidence-based tiered STEM faculty development model that enhances the STEM learning experiences for diverse students that other institutions may adopt. The project will be shared through presentations at conferences, publications, as well as CSU's Institute for Teaching and Learning. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Kimberly Costino
CAFullerton1953362California State University Fullerton Auxiliary Services CorporationEstablishing Roots to Grow STEMs: Affirming STEM identity, building community, and improving graduation rates through a multidisciplinary lower division curriculum With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 project aims to increase retention and graduation rates of underrepresented STEM majors through a novel multidisciplinary, multi-departmental, lower division curriculum and faculty training plan that includes current and future STEM educators at HSI-serving, four- and two-year institutions. Research shows that interventions that “root” students in a community and “grow” their self-perception as STEM scholars positively impact retention and graduation rates. Working at scale, this project will build interventions into the first-year curriculum for all freshmen natural sciences and mathematics (NSM) majors at a large comprehensive university (estimated impact: 500-600 students per year). All NSM freshmen will enroll in a unique, multidisciplinary course that blends instruction in critical thinking/scientific reasoning with course-based interventions to enhance traits of self-efficacy, identity, and belonging, and a seminar course highlighting undergraduate research opportunities and STEM career exploration; all variables associated with long-term student success. Student transitions to STEM careers will be facilitated through a new collaboration between the NSM departments and the campus office for internship. The capacity of faculty from NSM and local two-year institutions to support underrepresented STEM majors will be enhanced through training in inclusive teaching and reinforced by a training colloquium for STEM educators from partner institutions.

This research-based project will involve five NSM departments and will impact all NSM majors. The proposed research will add to the current knowledge base through an investigation of three hypotheses: retention and graduation rates for STEM majors are enhanced by multidisciplinary, course-based experiences that combine academic content with psychosocial and NSM community-building activities; STEM-related internships contribute to retention and graduation goals; and faculty training improves retention by enhancing the STEM learning environment while creating opportunities for STEM education scholarship. Assessment of critical thinking skills and psychosocial traits will be achieved using validated survey instruments. Retention and graduation data will be collected from the campus office of institutional research. Expected outcomes from this project will include validation of a course-based early intervention with documentation of a 2% annual increase in retention of STEM majors; increased awareness of STEM career options, internships, and research opportunities as measured by student engagement with campus resources and alumni employment data; increased participation of faculty from four- and two-year institutions in training in inclusive teaching in STEM; and increased faculty and student education research productivity based on attendance in training workshops and evidence of presentations and publications related to STEM education. Project dissemination will be achieved through publication, presentation at national conferences, and a training colloquium. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Merri Casem
CARohnert Park1953472Sonoma State UniversitySupporting HSI STEM Departments to Achieve Transformative Inclusion in Undergraduate STEM Education With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program, this Track 1 project aims to increase the participation and success of STEM students, particularly Hispanic students, by transforming STEM department cultures. In this way, the project plans to address the persistent under-representation of Hispanic students in STEM. To accomplish these goals, the project will develop, test, and publish a two-year departmental equity transformation pathway. This pathway will include workshops and exploration of factors that contribute to Hispanic under-representation in STEM, such as stereotype threat and implicit bias. The pathway will introduce faculty to culturally responsive pedagogies. The project will support the collaborative implementation of high impact practices in gateway STEM courses to increase students' sense of belonging in STEM fields. The collaboration will include teamwork and iterative course improvements through Lesson Study, a teacher-led research and observation protocol to improve student learning. The work will include a review of institutional barriers and opportunities to increase STEM students' connections to campus resources.

The aims of the project are to develop programming that will assist HSI STEM departments to improve student experiences and outcomes in STEM, and to advance understanding of the effects of department-level work to increase equity and inclusion of all students. The project will support implementation of practices known to reduce experiences of marginalization, especially of Hispanic students, and will examine the impacts of department-wide implementation of culturally responsive pedagogy on students' persistence, success, and sense of belonging in STEM. Research methods include interviews, student and faculty focus groups, student surveys, and collection/analysis of student success data such as persistence and graduation. Anticipated results include implementation of department-level interventions that improve students’ success in STEM and development of a greater understanding about how to support the success of Hispanic students in STEM. The project will directly improve the STEM learning experience of at least 2000 students per year at Sonoma State University. In addition, it has the potential for broader impact at other institutions that implement the published pathway. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Brigitte Lahme
CASanta Barbara1953492University of California-Santa BarbaraLinkField-based Undergraduate Research Experiences and Professional Development to Increase Diversity and Inclusion in Conservation and Environmental Sciences With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program, this Track 1 project seeks to serve the national need for a well-prepared and diverse workforce in conservation and environmental sciences. Nationally, there is low diversity among professionals in conservation and environmental science. Increased diversity can support greater innovation in solving a range of environmental problems, many of which will have disproportionate impact on more diverse and often underserved communities. The overarching goal of the project is to create an integrated program that will support inclusive excellence in environmental, conservation, and ecological sciences. To support this aim, the project will implement inclusive mentoring, early and immersive exposure to field-based science and tools, and extensive professional skills development and career experiences. This project expects to increase involvement of students, particularly for Hispanic students, in environmental sciences and contribute knowledge about the importance of field and research experiences in fostering careers in environmental science.

The specific aims of the project are to: 1) assist undergraduate students in making critical transitions in progressing towards an environmental sciences career; 2) engage undergraduate students in career and research opportunities in environmental sectors throughout their undergraduate career; 3) foster a sense of identity among students as environmental scientists; and 4) explore how these interventions affect career choice, sense of identity, and perception of the role of environmental science in serving their community. Specifically, this program intends to develop a sequence of research and professional development experiences relevant to conservation and environmental sciences that span all four years of undergraduate education. These experiences will include an intensive research experience, a methods-focused field trip, a career internship, a service-learning experience, as well as mentoring and career exposure. Evaluation components that focus on social and personal identity will be integrated throughout the project activities, so that the project can examine the impact of these efforts both in shaping a student’s sense of identity as a scientist and in improving retention in the STEM ecological sciences workforce. The project will test the hypothesis that early intensive interventions, extensive mentoring, and immersive experiences can overcome existing barriers to participation in environmental science. The project will support the development of courses and a mentoring framework that will persist within the university after the end of the funding, facilitating long-term increased participation of students, particularly Hispanic students, in environmental science. The knowledge generated in this project may also be useful for successful implementation of similar intervention efforts at other locations. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Gretchen Hofmann
CANorwalk1953557Cerritos CollegeBuilding Pathways for Hispanic Community College Students to Become STEM Teachers Through Mentoring and Experiential Learning With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program, this Track 2 project aims to make more undergraduate STEM students interested in pursuing careers in STEM teaching. California's teacher shortage is acute in Southern California, where it has especially affected high-poverty, high-minority K-12 districts. These districts need many more, highly qualified STEM teachers with STEM degrees and teaching credentials, particularly in high schools. These classrooms also face a widening gap between faculty and student demographics, which can affect student learning and success. This project will provide undergraduates with paid internships at an informal science institution, the Columbia Memorial Space Center. Before and during their internship, the students will be mentored by college STEM faculty who have completed professional development to help them hone their mentoring skills. These activities are designed to address two regional needs: 1) recruiting and retaining students from HSIs who are on track to achieve a STEM degree and a STEM secondary single-subject teaching credential; and 2) broadening participation in STEM teaching and the STEM workforce. Teachers often report that they were drawn to the teaching profession by a positive teaching experience. Thus, this project intends to provide students with such an experience. After training at the College, student interns will have teaching experiences that include facilitating field trips and other learning experiences at the Columbia Memorial Space Center. Because at least 70% of the students at the college are Hispanic, most students participating in the internship will also be Hispanic. The expected project deliverables include outreach to at least 3,000 K-12 students, paid internships for up to 60 undergraduate interns, and improved mentoring skills in participating faculty.

The project research plan is designed to advance understanding of the effectiveness of paid internships in informal STEM education settings to attract students (particularly Hispanic students) into secondary-STEM teaching professions. The project will address three research questions: 1) To what extent do the different elements of the project (recruitment, mentors, internship, etc.) contribute to community college students’ pursuit of STEM degrees and students’ perception of secondary school teaching as a viable STEM-related career? 2) In what ways does the project contribute to the development of students’ identity as both a STEM learner and STEM teacher? 3) To what extent do students’ experiences as informal science educators during the internship support the development of effective practices for science teaching and communication? The project will use a mixed methods approach, employing research tools that include focus groups, surveys, academic records, and validated research instruments. By the end of its three-year funding period, the program expects to achieve a 30% (18 student) increase in the College’s secondary teacher preparation pathway and that these students will be both pursuing STEM degrees and intending to receive a single-subject teaching credential in a STEM discipline. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Colleen McKinley
CAGlendora1953594Citrus Community College DistrictCross-Sector Partnerships, Experiential Learning, and Professional Development to Build Pathways to STEM Careers With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program, this Track 1: Building Capacity project aims to improve STEM education and broaden participation in STEM. It intends to do so through a collaborative, cross-sector partnership model that will provide students and faculty with year-round, extra-curricular, STEM-related experiences. It is expected that these experiences will help increase the number of students who are retained in and successfully complete STEM degrees at HSI institutions. One of the unique features of this program is that faculty will be embedded with students during the extracurricular experiences. As a result, faculty will connect with professionals working at the forefront of their disciplines and be able to use their experiences to improve their teaching. The program is also expected to help increase the number and quality of cross-sector collaborations.

The project team has already created partnerships with corporate, non-profit, and government organizations. The primary partners are Packet, MillerCoors Brewing, CSU Fullerton, Gravitational Waves Physics & Astronomy, City of Hope, The Explainables, The Right Question Institute, and the Blue Marble Space Institute of Science. These organizations will provide students with experiences that range from workshops and demonstrations to coding boot camps and summer research internships. The project intends to serve 300 students, who will participate in one of three themed cohorts: 1. Geosciences; 2. Engineering, Physics, Mathematics & Computer Sciences; and 3. Biology and Chemistry. It is expected that participation in the cohort will broaden students’ understanding of career opportunities, introduce them to subfields within their disciplines, and provide internships or research opportunities, while building durable networks with peers and professionals. The research and evaluation components of the project will contribute to the literature regarding science identity. It is expected that this work may serve as a model for increasing the diversity of the STEM workforce. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Victoria Dominguez
CASan Diego1953713San Diego State University FoundationMathematics Persistence through Inquiry and Equity: Redeveloping Gateway Mathematics in a Two-year HSI to Promote Success in STEM With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 project will study the major reform efforts designed to improve student success in gateway mathematics at a two-year HSI and develop inquiry-based and equity-driven interventions to support STEM achievement. Gateway mathematics courses are the first transfer-level mathematics course taken by most students intending to pursue a STEM major. These courses traditionally have a high failure rate, and are a common barrier for STEM-intending students from historically underserved communities. In addition, these courses are undergoing a shift as state law is impacting policies related to student placement. With this project, a collaborative team from a two-year institution and a four-year institution will analyze trends in student success, develop classroom-based interventions and professional development for instructors of gateway mathematics courses, study the impacts of the interventions, and examine the sustainability of change efforts. This work will have an impact locally by transforming gateway mathematics courses enrolling up to 10,000 students across the life of the project. By improving gateway mathematics courses, this project will contribute to the societal benefit of broadening participation in STEM majors and careers. This effort will also result in generalizable knowledge about institutional change in STEM departments at two-year HSIs, and the results will be disseminated through research publications, workshops, network improvement communities, and professional development conferences.

The project will proceed in three phases. In Phase 1 the researchers will collect and analyze institutional and classroom-level data to inform a change effort. Analyses will use descriptive and inferential statistics, case study analysis, and be informed by inquiry learning and institutional change frameworks. In Phase 2, the researchers will engage in cycles of design research and professional development to build the capacity of mathematics instructors to leverage inquiry- and equity-oriented teaching practices in order to expand student success in gateway mathematics courses. In Phase 3, the research team will gradually reduce the active intervention, and study the sustainability of the changes enacted in Phase 2. The results of this work will be a model for the reform and redesign of gateway STEM courses in two-year HSIs. These results will be disseminated through research publications, workshops, network improvement communities, and professional development conferences. This project will make a beneficial contribution to society by improving the STEM education of Latinx students at a two-year institution, and more broadly through our dissemination efforts. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Mary Pilgrim
CALong Beach1953727California State University-Long Beach FoundationAn Active Learning-based Educational Program for Hispanic STEM Students through Industry-University Partnership With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM education: Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 project aims to train skilled Hispanic STEM students to address the diversity issues in human resource development in the state of California and the Nation. This will be achieved by increasing the qualifications and marketability of the students through creating a meaningful industry-university partnership. Employing the capacity of the program over the next five years, ~120 participating students will benefit from an active learning approach through conducting an applied research, guided by a team of mentors from both academia and industry. Furthermore, the program seeks to improve the retention and graduation rate of participants by (a) providing direct guidance from faculty mentors, (b) fostering motivation factor by enhancing their qualifications towards their future employment, (c) providing financial support to minimize the negative impact of their socioeconomic challenges. Furthermore, the faculty mentors will benefit from an opportunity to expand the scope of their research beyond their traditional scholarly activities. From a technological/economical point of view, the program aims to contribute to the advancement of industrial partners by providing low-cost solutions to their challenges. Moreover, the industrial partners will have access to the low-cost state-of-the-art instrumentation in the faculty mentors’ research laboratories and in the shared facilities of the university. The enterprises will also benefit from having direct access to a skillful and well-trained workforce. In addition, this program will contribute to the various societally important growing problems i.e. environmental and energy related challenges, telecommunication and transportation infrastructure, and advanced manufacturing.

This project will provide insight into effective program design related to the employment and retention of Hispanic students in STEM fields. The industry and university mentor-partnership design will contribute to understanding of the role that mentorship plays in Hispanic students’ persistence in STEM fields. Moreover, the proposed activities in this program will lead to a better understanding of the impact of the joint mentorship (from a holistic point of view) on Hispanic students’ success, both academically and professionally. More specifically, the impact of individual components of the program on students’ success will be assessed, which will in turn provide insight into the development of best practices related to mentorship. The program will also advance knowledge about the effects of teamwork on Hispanic students' academic success, as well as their overall personal and professional developments. The curriculum and workshop materials will be posted on the program website to be available for the public use. Knowledge generated from the evaluation and conducted research will serve as a foundation for building effective departmental or college wide cooperative programs that fulfill institutional goals of time to degree and student engagement. These findings will be presented in national conferences and will be published in peer-reviewed educational journals. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Ehsan Barjasteh
CAChico1953751Chico State EnterprisesSTEM Course Transformation: Cultivating a Culture of Entrepreneurial Mindset and Undergraduate Research With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 project aims to increase the number of STEM degrees and underrepresented minority (URM) student representation, while at the same time transforming the STEM undergraduate experience. At California State University, Chico, low pass rates in lower division courses impede student progression in STEM, and URMs experience higher repetition rates than their non-URM peers despite having met similar admission criteria. With the largest attrition of STEM students occurring in the first two years, the project targets large enrollment courses with low pass rates to implement high impact practices designed to increase student success. High impact practices include increasing student participation in research experiences and entrepreneurial activities, recognizing that such experiences may yield disproportionate benefits to URMs while supporting STEM identity formation, retention, and increasing professional preparation and social integration for all students. CSU, Chico will implement Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) including the integration of entrepreneurial skills development as the Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience and Entrepreneurship (CURE-E) model. Faculty training and development is a central feature of the project. A summer institute offers an interactive workshop to introduce faculty to inquiry-based learning, assessment strategies, rubrics, and educational technologies. Faculty members will participate in ongoing professional learning community sessions, and returning faculty trained in previous summer institutes will share their experiences and best practices. By increasing retention and graduation rates, this project has the potential to help fill critical gaps and broaden participation in the US STEM workforce by increasing the number of trained STEM professionals.

Specific aims of this project are the implementation of the CURE-E model into 15 STEM barrier courses; STEM entrepreneurship toolkit; faculty and student research and innovation symposium; faculty training and development in the CURE-E summer institute; and educational research and project evaluation activities. To understand how the CURE-E model transforms classroom experiences for STEM undergraduate students, the research will focus on the faculty leading the re-design and implementation of the STEM barrier courses using the LifeGrid methodology. This research tool is used to collect and analyze qualitative data, specifically the instructors’ external and internal experiences as they implement the CURE-E model. Expected outcomes include enhanced quality of undergraduate STEM education showing a decreased achievement gap between URM students and non-URM students in STEM; increased undergraduate retention and graduation rates; and contributions to the research literature on professional development of instructors adopting the CURE-E model. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
David Alexander
CASacramento1953752University Enterprises, IncorporatedAchieving STEM Persistence through Peer Assisted Learning and Leadership Development With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 project aims to increase undergraduate student retention and success in STEM. It will do so by engaging a campus peer assisted learning program to provide academic and interpersonal supports to students in introductory engineering courses. The project also plans to support STEM student success via a STEM Leadership Academy that will serve undergraduate students in the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics and the College of Engineering and Computer Science. The STEM Leadership Academy is expected to cultivate students' leadership, interpersonal, and workforce readiness skills. Expected student outcomes include improved academic performance, greater self-efficacy, increased persistence, reduced time to graduation, and narrowed achievement gaps. The project also expects that students will gain a suite of interpersonal and team-based attributes that will bolster their success in the workforce. Evaluation of project activities and outcomes will generate new knowledge about student engagement, degree attainment, and workforce transitions.

This project aims to increase retention and decrease time to degree for students through two critical transitions: 1) lower to upper division engineering courses; and 2) through STEM degree completion to workforce entry. Specific aims include: 1) expanding the peer assisted learning collaborative to introductory engineering courses; 2) iteratively implementing the STEM Leadership Academy to provide students with three levels of leadership skill development, experiential learning, and engagement in socially-relevant activities; and 3) enhancing faculty attitudes regarding student competencies through professional development workshops. A mixed methods study will contribute new knowledge about: 1) the peer assisted learning intervention for lower division engineering courses; 2) how peer assisted learning and the STEM Leadership Academy affect student self-efficacy, sense of belonging, and intentions to persist in the degree and enter the STEM workforce; and 3) impacts on faculty expectations regarding increased student responsibility and the traditional teacher-student relationships. This project aims to increase the participation of underrepresented minority, women, and transfer students and will draw on co-curricular collaborative and socially relevant activities shown to increase self-efficacy, course performance, retention, and interest in STEM careers. Project outcomes will be disseminated through publications, presentations, and a public website. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Julie Fogarty
CAChula Vista1953753Southwestern CollegeMathematics Persistence through Inquiry and Equity: Redeveloping Gateway Mathematics in a Two-year HSI to Promote Success in STEM With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 project will study the major reform efforts designed to improve student success in gateway mathematics at a two-year HSI and develop inquiry-based and equity-driven interventions to support STEM achievement. Gateway mathematics courses are the first transfer-level mathematics course taken by most students intending to pursue a STEM major. These courses traditionally have a high failure rate, and are a common barrier for STEM-intending students from historically underserved communities. In addition, these courses are undergoing a shift as state law is impacting policies related to student placement. With this project, a collaborative team from a two-year institution and a four-year institution will analyze trends in student success, develop classroom-based interventions and professional development for instructors of gateway mathematics courses, study the impacts of the interventions, and examine the sustainability of change efforts. This work will have an impact locally by transforming gateway mathematics courses enrolling up to 10,000 students across the life of the project. By improving gateway mathematics courses, this project will contribute to the societal benefit of broadening participation in STEM majors and careers. This effort will also result in generalizable knowledge about institutional change in STEM departments at two-year HSIs, and the results will be disseminated through research publications, workshops, network improvement communities, and professional development conferences.

The project will proceed in three phases. In Phase 1 the researchers will collect and analyze institutional and classroom-level data to inform a change effort. Analyses will use descriptive and inferential statistics, case study analysis, and be informed by inquiry learning and institutional change frameworks. In Phase 2, the researchers will engage in cycles of design research and professional development to build the capacity of mathematics instructors to leverage inquiry- and equity-oriented teaching practices in order to expand student success in gateway mathematics courses. In Phase 3, the research team will gradually reduce the active intervention, and study the sustainability of the changes enacted in Phase 2. The results of this work will be a model for the reform and redesign of gateway STEM courses in two-year HSIs. These results will be disseminated through research publications, workshops, network improvement communities, and professional development conferences. This project will make a beneficial contribution to society by improving the STEM education of Latinx students at a two-year institution, and more broadly through our dissemination efforts. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Kimberly Eclar
CASan Jose1953760San Jose State University FoundationTransforming Undergraduate Teaching and Learning Through Culturally Sustaining, Active, and Asset-Based Approaches to Introductory Science Courses With support from Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI program), this Track 1 project aims to increase diversity, inclusion, and retention in STEM. It will do so by transforming teaching and learning in introductory undergraduate science courses. Underrepresented students enter higher education and STEM fields with a wealth of cultural capital and resilience that supports their success in demanding and innovative disciplines. This project aims to leverage those assets through inclusive and affirming STEM learning opportunities that enhance undergraduate students' STEM identities. To this end, the project will implement teaching innovations within introductory science courses and create a faculty learning community committed to instructional transformation. The proposed course improvements have the potential to increase retention and graduation rates in STEM majors and to serve as a model for replication across the California State University system and other institutions.

The goal of this project is to support undergraduate students, particularly Hispanic and other underrepresented minority students, during the first two years of college when attrition rates from STEM are highest. Project objectives include implementing teaching and learning experiences that cultivate community development, sense of belonging, and academic inclusivity in introductory science courses. The project’s research plan is designed to examine student experiences in introductory STEM courses and assess the pedagogical approaches that support STEM learning and STEM identity construction. This research can contribute new knowledge about the adaptability and sustainability of curricular reforms. Methodological approaches include both qualitative (e.g., student interviews) and quantitative (e.g., surveys; course statistics) data sources to holistically capture student experiences, learning, and identity trajectories along their undergraduate pathways. The project uses a novel approach to undergraduate course transformation that draws from both evidence-based and active learning approaches to STEM instruction, as well as culturally sustaining and asset-based pedagogy. Findings from this project have the potential to advance knowledge about and promote sustainable institutional improvements of undergraduate STEM education. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Cassandra Paul
CASan Mateo1953762San Mateo County Community College DistrictImproving Career Readiness of STEM Students Through Worksite Visits, Job Shadowing, and Internships during Their Early College Years With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program, this Track 1 project seeks to prepare students for careers in STEM. To do so, the project will provide community college students with opportunities to explore STEM careers through a sequence of workplace visits, job shadowing, and internships. By enabling students to interact with STEM professionals, the project team predicts that students will gain an understanding of what it takes to be a STEM professional and the breadth of what STEM professionals do.
These interactions are expected to help build students’ confidence and motivation to pursue careers in STEM. As a result of the project’s emphasis on engaging Hispanic students and students from other groups that are underrepresented in STEM, the project has the potential to contribute to the diversity of the STEM workforce. The project includes a robust plan to build partnerships with local research facilities and high-tech industry partners. This model of industry partnerships that build networks between students and STEM professionals may prove to be a model that other institutions could use to provide students with STEM career exploration opportunities.

This project will engage first- and second-year students with STEM professionals in a progressive sequence of experiences beginning with work site visits, continuing to job shadowing and internships. These workplace experiences will occur early in the academic journey of community college students. The intention is that, over two years, students will participate in a sequence of workplace exposures that require increasingly greater effort and provide increasingly higher potential impact. A mixed-methods evaluation will test the hypothesis that these career-focused experiences will increase students' self-confidence, motivate them to participate in academic support activities, and contribute to their success in becoming STEM professionals. This work is important because, by expanding and enriching the learning environment to include workplaces, the project will examine how community college STEM programs can increase participation in STEM among all demographic groups of students. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Ramki Kalyanaraman
CASan Diego2013590San Diego State University FoundationCollaborative Research: Mathematics Graduate Teaching Assistant Professional Development Focused on Implementation of Evidence-based Teaching Practices This project aims to serve the national interest by preparing mathematics graduate teaching assistants (MGTAs) to implement teaching practices designed to improve the success of students in undergraduate mathematics courses. To this end, the project will provide MGTAs with a multi-year professional development program to help them implement evidence based teaching practices, including active learning. The professional development program will include an intensive teaching seminar and two courses focused on active learning and inclusive teaching. This approach, which provides MGTAs with extended professional development over multiple years, contrasts with the conventional practice of providing MGTA training only in their first year of graduate school. To help develop their leadership skills, experienced MGTAs will have the opportunity to serve as teaching mentors for newer peers. Over the five-year span of the project, more than 35,000 undergraduates will be taught by MGTAs who have received this multi-year professional development. It is expected that thousands more students will be served in the years that follow, as many of the MGTAs move into academic careers. The project will be implemented at Oregon State University, Virginia Commonwealth University, and San Diego State University. As a result, the project will have multiple contexts for examining the impact of the professional development on MGTA teaching attitudes and practices, as well as on the success of the undergraduates in the MGTAs’ classes. The project will compare outcomes at the three institutions to generate new knowledge about MGTA professional development, to explore what works in which contexts, and to develop an explicit theory of change related to MGTAs’ teaching practices.

The goal of this project is to equip MGTAs with evidence-based teaching practices, such as the use of multiple representations, small group management, and reflective teaching, through a professional development program built on findings from research about both undergraduate mathematics education and MGTA professional development. The project will study the efficacy of this approach through data collected from surveys, classroom observations, and interviews with MGTAs, their students, and faculty in the impacted departments. These data will enable the project team to explore changes in MGTAs’ teaching practices and their commitment to evidence-based teaching practices, to understand how undergraduate students experience the participating MGTA’s classrooms, and to examine if and how the professional development program becomes formalized and sustained within the departments. Using individual and organizational theories of change, this project will generate new knowledge about whether, how, and why the professional development program results in instructional change. This work will include determining individual factors that impact MGTAs as they transform their teaching and exploring departmental and institutional characteristics that inhibit or support sustainable change. A multi-level mixed methods analysis of data from multiple institutions will allow for rich comparisons to inform MGTA professional development more broadly. This project was supported by the NSF IUSE:EHR and IUSE:HSI programs. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Institutional and Community Transformation track, the program supports efforts to transform and improve STEM education across institutions of higher education and disciplinary communities. The IUSE: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program) aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Mary Pilgrim
CALos Angeles2021548Los Angeles City CollegeAdvancing Scholars in Successful Undergraduate Research Experiences (ASSURE) This project aims to serve the national interest by investigating the relationships between community college students' participation in scientific research and their academic success and degree completion. Specifically, the project will evaluate the impacts of new research-oriented curricula, together with hands-on research experiences for community college students in the chemical sciences. These changes are expected to increase student engagement, retention, degree completion, and rate of transfer from community college. Specific aims are to (1) increase successful completion rates in General Chemistry and Organic Chemistry, (2) increase the representation of Latinx STEM students transferring to four-year universities, and (3) facilitate post-transfer success of students through supports including authentic research experiences, transfer workshops, and e-mentoring. The project will focus on students from underrepresented groups or socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds. The project will test a scalable model of research practice at the community college that has the potential to improve undergraduate STEM education and promote the development of a diverse STEM workforce.

Los Angeles City College (LACC) and the University of Southern California (USC) will investigate how exposure to authentic research experiences, characterized by the application of the process of science and the scientific method, correlates with increased academic success and degree completion for community college STEM students. To that end, the project will test two related assumptions: (1) the integration of authentic research experiences into community college classroom and laboratory coursework will correlate with improved academic performance, persistence, and degree completion; and (2) participation in authentic research experiences at the community college level will correlate with improved academic performance, persistence, degree completion, and transfer to four-year universities. Project activities include redesign of laboratory curricula in General Chemistry II and Organic Chemistry I and II courses, providing research experiences for students who have completed an organic chemistry course; and assessing LACC’s institutional and departmental capacity with regard to STEM education. USC will provide 10-week summer research experiences for LACC students at USC and measure the impact of the project’s pedagogical changes and research exposure on student success and degree completion to evaluate the validity of the project’s theory of change. This project is supported by the NSF IUSE: EHR Program, which supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Institutional and Community Transformation track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools to understand how institutions change to better support student learning.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Glen Baghdasarian
CACamarillo2033488California State University Channel IslandsRAPID: Reimagined Virtual STEM Laboratory Experiences in Response to COVID-19 Pandemic Impacts on Undergraduate Education With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this RAPID project will address critical instructional challenges in undergraduate STEM education that result from the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, it will produce and deploy virtual labs in upper-division chemistry, physics, and math courses. The rush to online course delivery in response to COVID-19 has revealed limitations of commercially available online virtual labs. Existing virtual lab experiences are generally poorly focused on student exploration. In addition, the effectiveness of virtual lab activities is not well understood, particularly for specific student populations such as Hispanic/Latinx students. To address these opportunities, the California State University system will design three virtual labs that focus on community building, are culturally responsive, and relate to real life events brought about by the pandemic. The project will also study the effectiveness of these virtual labs, thus adding to the body of knowledge about effective online instruction. The creation and delivery of the proposed labs have the potential to positively affect many students, as well as increase equitable access to high-quality learning opportunities. Beyond its immediate impact on improving online laboratory instruction in a time of crisis, this work may provide models for other STEM education initiatives and contribute to institutional and educational changes to better support STEM learning.

The project aims to develop and test three virtual labs that are purposely designed to create and sustain a culture of inclusion and equity that supports the success of all students, particularly the large population of Hispanic/Latinx students served within the California State University system. The project seeks to increase opportunity and achievement by providing students with avenues to grow STEM identity, self-efficacy, and sense of belonging. The design criteria for the three virtual labs will be informed by culturally responsive and trauma-informed teaching practices. The virtual labs will support instruction across the California State University campuses and beyond, beginning as early as Fall 2020. The overall goal is to directly improve students’ knowledge and ability, STEM identity, and integration of identities. The project plans to examine disciplinary best practices in student learning through an informed equity perspective. The project will investigate how to best implement culturally responsive and relevant teaching in virtual science and math laboratory environments and gather and analyze data about the shift to online teaching/learning modalities. Data will be collected every three months from students participating in the virtual labs via pre/post assessments to provide insight into the role of metacognition in their learning. Results of the research will be disseminated through peer-reviewed scholarship, virtual and face-to-face workshops, and reports. This RAPID award is made by the Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program in the Division of Undergraduate Education, Directorate of Education and Human Resources. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Frank Gomez
CAAlameda2114702College of AlamedaHSI Pilot Project: College of Alameda Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement (MESA) Connect With support from Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 project aims to increase the enrollment of Latinx students in College of Alameda (CoA) STEM programs and impact rates of success and retention in gateway STEM courses. The Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement (MESA) Connect program will excite students about applied STEM learning and teach them the fundamentals of STEM inquiry and research through Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) that will be woven into their fall semester courses. The project has four objectives: (1) broaden participation in STEM degree programs by piloting and evaluating a summer STEM Discovery Institute and internships; (2) improve STEM teaching and learning by designing a first-year learning community that incorporates CUREs in introductory Biology, Chemistry, CIS and Math courses; (3) deliver comprehensive student support services, including academic tutoring, professional and near peer mentoring, faculty advising, transfer support services, campus health resources and financial aid; and (4) in collaboration with CSUEB, build institutional capacity to both deliver and analyze culturally informed STEM instruction.

The evaluation of MESA Connect will contribute to a growing body of knowledge about CUREs and their importance to Latinx community college students, particularly when CURE design is culturally relevant and significant. The formative evaluation will consider whether the project is being conducted as planned and with the stated intentions of cultural competency and fidelity to evidence-based practices. The summative evaluation will look at whether project participants achieved the intended pilot outcomes, including qualitative academic (course completion) and qualitative STEM-related (career interest, understanding of core concepts) outcomes, and whether the project contributed toward its intended long- term impact on degree attainment and transfer. Quantitative analysis will compare participating Latinx student outcomes with overall college outcomes, and qualitative analysis will be grounded in students’ cultural backgrounds, measuring the effectiveness of the pilot interventions within the context of the project and the student experience. Contributions to the literature on this topic will answer the research question: What is the impact of participation in a STEM learning community enriched by culturally informed CUREs on Latinx community college students’ awareness of and decision to pursue STEM education and careers? Deepening understanding of culturally appropriate CUREs in the context of a transfer pathway will benefit students from backgrounds underrepresented in STEM who begin their post-secondary education in the community college. The dissemination plan will include presentations at national networks, such as the Community College Undergraduate Research Initiative. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Reza Majlesi 
CACulver City2115189West Los Angeles CollegeImprove Precalculus Success by Pairing a Precalculus Course with a Computer Science Course Centered on Select Precalculus Topics With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track1 pilot project aims to improve underprepared students’ transition from algebra to calculus using computer programming to aid the learning of precalculus concepts and skills. Many community college students intending to major in STEM are underprepared for calculus so precalculus has become a gateway course for many STEM majors. However, because of low student success in precalculus courses, these courses create a major constriction in the STEM pipeline. The project will conduct research on how pairing the traditional precalculus course with a redesigned computer science course centered on numerical investigation of select precalculus topics impacts student performance in (a) the precalculus course; (b) subsequent calculus courses; and (c) in completion of STEM degree/transfer. It will provide valuable insight into the ways in which computer programming can elevate success in precalculus and (subsequently) calculus. For community colleges, it has the potential to help ease the bottleneck between algebra and calculus that constricts transfer rates and diminishes student interest in STEM. Project results will also add to the body of knowledge on how using computing to teach precalculus can help underserved and underperforming students gain access to STEM disciplines. If proven successful, this approach will likely find widespread use throughout the country, given that precalculus appears on almost every college campus and is a prerequisite for STEM majors.

The primary goal of the project is to boost student success in precalculus, increasing the number of students able to enter and successfully complete calculus thus reducing the number of students who opt out of STEM majors. The project will accomplish the following objectives: (1) Develop a supplementary computer science course centered on numerical investigation of select precalculus topics to accompany the precalculus course; (2) Provide the new course combination (computer science +precalculus) to at least 60 students during the grant period; (3) Determine how this approach impacts students’ (a) success rate in precalculus; (b) subsequent enrollment in calculus courses; (c) success rate in calculus courses. The success of the proposed approach will be determined through quasi-experimental procedures using control and treatment groups, where the treatment group comprises students completing the supplementary computer science course along with the formal precalculus course; the control group will have only completed the latter. The project team will widely disseminate project and research results at local, regional, and national levels to share important findings with other educational institutions and communities that seek to increase math attainment. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Manish Patel
CASanta Clarita2120432College of the CanyonsRCN-UBE Incubator: The Campus as a Living Lab This project aims to serve the national interest by increasing opportunities for undergraduate students at four-year and community colleges to engage in authentic and relevant STEM research. With the development of a native bee Campus as a Living Lab (CALL) research toolkit, the project will address two main barriers that faculty regularly face in doing so, limited time and resources. The CALL research toolkit will include materials and step-by-step instructions to initiate and expand the study of campus native bee biodiversity. All essential information will be developed in Spanish as well. Network faculty participants will receive training with the toolkit so that they can introduce students to biodiversity research on their respective campuses. With this easy-to-implement and low-cost toolkit, faculty and students can turn their campuses and nearby natural areas into research locations. This experience will increase students’ knowledge and awareness regarding native bee distribution, ecology, and to the science of habitat enrichment. Providing students this research opportunity will enhance student’s connection to their campus, professors, and fellow students, thereby increasing their sense of belonging and retention within STEM degree and career paths.

The project's primary goal is to develop a network of faculty at community colleges and four-year institutions who incorporate native bee biodiversity research into their courses. Key objectives of this project include: 1) building the network of faculty, and 2) creating, beta testing, and refining the native bee Campus As a Living Lab (CALL)Toolkit. The PIs and steering committee members will develop and expand a nationwide network of community colleges and four-year institutions, representing geographically and ecologically varied locations. Developing a network with many two-year colleges who serve a high percentage of underrepresented students will achieve multiple goals, which include increasing opportunities for faculty to share information on best practices to institutionalizing research experiences into courses, strengthening the pathway for students to transfer to four-year institutions, and generating opportunities for collaboration among students and faculty. Native bee biodiversity data will be entered into public databases and will be shared among the network participants. Therefore, this research will contribute to native bee conservation on a local and global scale. The shared data base will make it possible to identify gaps in native bee species composition on campuses. These gaps could then be filled by using targeted habitat enrichment. In this way, the large landscape parcels on community college campuses can ultimately serve as habitat islands and corridors. This project is being jointly funded by the Directorate for Biological Sciences, Division of Biological Infrastructure, and the Directorate for Education and Human Resources, Division of Undergraduate Education as part of their efforts to address the challenges posed in Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action (http://visionandchange/finalreport/). This project is also supported by the NSF HSI and IUSE: EHR programs.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Jeannie Chari
CAIrvine2121572University of California-IrvineA Study in Engaging Students with Complex Topics through Knowledge Graphs This project aims to serve the national interest by improving sustainability science instruction and learning at a general education level for undergraduate students. Educating future generations about sustainability science is a critical problem for humanity’s collective future. Recognizing the importance of this topic, many colleges and universities have established or are developing general education courses on sustainability science that every student must take. This project will improve undergraduate STEM education by developing and studying the effectiveness of educational modules that engage students from many different majors with sustainability science and helping them grapple with the complexity of the topic. It is based on the key observation that knowledge graphs, an emerging means of storing information computationally, provide a potential way to span across disciplines and unpack complexity one layer at a time. They allow students to engage with problems that more accurately represent the challenges of sustainability science than traditional techniques. The contributions of the project include: (1) a new knowledge graph-based approach to supporting student learning of concepts in sustainability science that addresses a critical shortcoming in the sustainability education landscape; (2) assessments of this approach in terms of engagement and efficacy at helping students learn key concepts in sustainability; and (3) a publicly available computational scaffolding for this technique.

The central goal of the project is to assess three core research questions: (1) Can knowledge graph-based educational modules help students improve their understanding of sustainability concepts within and across fields? (2) Can student contributions to a shared knowledge graph form a useful foundation for later pedagogical activities? (3) Can students contribute accurate and relevant sustainability information to a global, public knowledge graph through their coursework? The team will investigate these questions by developing a novel computational platform for education and deploying it with more than 2,000 students across two universities. The platform developed as part of this grant will enable students to make their own knowledge graphs based on course content and integrate their graphs with those of their peers, as well as complete further activities based on revising the collective graph. Assessment will involve both quantitative and qualitative evaluations of the course modules and their effect on student learning, as well as computational analyses of the collectively-constructed graph. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
William Tomlinson
CASherman Oaks2121999Los Angeles Valley CollegeCreating Pathways to Increase Retention and Transfer Rates of STEM Majors at Two Los Angeles-Based Hispanic Serving Institutions With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 2 project aims to address the problem of low retention and transfer rates of underrepresented minorities in STEM at two sister Hispanic Serving Community Colleges in Los Angeles (Los Angeles Valley College-LAVC and Los Angeles Pierce College-LPC). Between LAVC and LAPC, Biology is the most selected STEM major (and third largest major overall), yet only 17-20% of students (a majority of whom are under-represented) complete the degree or transfer as a STEM major. Partnering with the University of Southern California (4-year university) and Bioscience LA (life science workforce development organization), this project will support 176 LAVC/LAPC students over three years using research-backed intervention methods designed to retain and attract students in STEM. Recruitment will target new students for early engagement in activities that will include academic resources and transfer support that scaffold onto new, modified, or existing courses at LAVC/LAPC. Activities will also include research experiences, internship opportunities, and introductions to a broad network of STEM academic and industry professionals. Anticipated outcomes include higher retention of LAVC/LAPC students in STEM, higher transfer rates to 4-year institutions as STEM majors, and insights into actual and perceived barriers for program administrators to inform ongoing intervention strategies.

Two leading research questions guide the framework of this program: 1) Which factors most influence the decision of under-represented students to persist in STEM; and 2) How can the educational experience of STEM students at 2-yr institutions be improved to increase persistence? This program will apply interventions to improve student performance and motivation, with the goal of improving the retention and transfer rates of marginalized students. Strategies will include exposure to diverse career paths, academic coaching, developing a learning community, faculty and near-peer mentoring, early exposure to research experiences, and an immersive opportunity at a research field station. Quantitative data from program evaluations will document the impact of these early interventions on student retention and persistence. Qualitative data via focus groups will provide insight on additional impact factors and outcomes of the program. Results will be disseminated via NSF annual reports, presentations at regional and national conferences with sessions that focus on STEM education and partner institution’s websites. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Becky Green-Marroquin
CASan Francisco2122176San Francisco State UniversityStrengthening Student Motivation and Resilience through Research and Advising This implementation and evaluation project aims to increase the retention and graduation rates of engineering students from groups who are underrepresented in their participation in STEM fields of study. The project team's activities will have a particular emphasis on Hispanic/Latinx students, providing them resources and career development opportunities to increase their academic and employment success in the engineering workforce. The School of Engineering at San Francisco State University, in a collaborative effort with Skyline College and Cañada College, will provide evidence-based faculty development, undergraduate research opportunities, and improved advising for students transferring from community colleges. The development of an HSI-Engineering Success Center will provide transfer students academic support, advising services, career counseling, and assistance in securing scholarships and internships so they can gain full-time employment in engineering. The project will answer two research questions: 1) What types of academic and non-academic supports will yield the highest retention, graduation, and employment rates? 2) What is the impact of faculty professional development on student learning experiences and success? The project will raise awareness in teaching and research to better equip a culturally diverse student population to earn engineering degrees while preparing to make a substantial impact on the technical workforce of the future.

This project will use a data-driven and evidence-based approach to identify the barriers to success of underrepresented engineering students and to generate new knowledge on the best practices in increasing students’ retention and graduation rates, self-efficacy, professional development, and workforce preparedness. Three objectives underpin this goal. First is to develop and implement a Summer Research Internship Program together with community college partners and a Transfer Advising Days event for new transfer students. Second is to establish an HSI Engineering Success Center (ESC) to provide students internships, networking opportunities with industry, and career development. Third is to develop resources for the professional development of faculty members, including Summer Faculty Teaching Workshops, an Inclusive Teaching and Mentoring Seminar Series, and an Engineering Faculty Learning Community. The results and novel approaches, models, and tools developed will be disseminated through journal publications, conferences/symposia, and faculty learning communities. The knowledge gained will address a national need to promote a diverse and well-prepared STEM workforce. The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program) aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Wenshen Pong
CASeaside2122243University Corporation at Monterey BayHSI Pilot Project: Inclusive and Integrative STEM Education through Undergraduate Research With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 project aims to increase access to research opportunities for traditionally underrepresented students in STEM, support diverse students and faculty in STEM, integrate research in the curriculum, create more inclusive research environments for undergraduates, and to enhance the professional advancement of faculty and research mentors. Undergraduate research, a well-established high-impact practice, provides significant benefits for students who are from traditionally underrepresented ethnicities, the first in their family to go to college, from lower-income families, and transfer students (Jones, Barlow, & Villarejo, 2010; Kinzie, Gonyea, Shoup, & Kuh, 2008; Villarejo, Barlow, Kogan, Veazey, & Sweeney, 2008). However, these students are less likely to participate in research than their peers (National Academy of Sciences, Engineering & Medicine, 2011), even when attending Hispanic Serving Institutions (Haeger, BrckaLorenz, & Webber, 2015). Additionally, when participating in research, students may find a research culture that is an unsupportive or hostile environment, which ultimately is one of the main contributing factors that cause low enrollment and high attrition rates in STEM fields (Clancy, Nelson, Rutherford, & Hinde, 2014).

In a partnership with California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB) and Monterey Peninsula Community College (MPC), this Planning and Pilot Project will work towards a future proposal including building collaborations with regional community colleges and scaling up interventions that prove effective. The project will support students by: generating more research opportunities; engaging transfer students in research pre- and post-transfer; supporting students through the transition from lower-division, introductory research experiences, to upper-division intensive research experiences; building STEM career pathways; and creating more inclusive research environments through equity training for students and mentors. In supporting faculty, our aims are to: incentivize research with undergraduates; foster more inclusive research spaces through inclusive mentoring and pedagogy; create a community of practice for faculty to develop interactive learning and career preparation in their courses; build interdisciplinary and multi-institutional faculty collaborations. Program evaluation will involve a series of studies closely tied to the goals of the grant: diversifying undergraduate research, eliminating equity gaps by building more inclusive and equitable research environments, and building partnerships that can help “scale up” educational interventions within and beyond the participating institutions. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
John Banks
CABakersfield2122442CSUB Auxiliary for Sponsored Programs AdministrationHSI Pilot Project: The MAESTRO Program - Minority Advancement in Engineering, Science, and Technology by Refactoring the Online Program With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1: PPP aims to address the lack of means and support for Hispanic/Latinx, low-income, first generation students to effectively participate in postsecondary education. Modern students work while going to school. For Hispanic/Latinx students who work twenty to forty hours a week, this workload may affect attendance and GPA, ultimately resulting in poor workforce placement. Addressing the issue that work comes first for many low-income underrepresented students, two approaches will be utilized: 1) supplant non-career-relevant work experience with industry internships, and 2) develop new formats for online learning. The overarching theme is to help students maintain both their income and academics. Busy students often turn to online programs that can be as effective as face-to-face instruction when combined with online videos and peer instruction. However, this model dichotomizes at-risk students due to poor regulation and social interaction. Preliminary results show that this classroom model does not improve outcomes or attitudes of California State University- Bakersfield (CSUB) students. A system that scaffolds and regulates the class with small groups convened at times around student work will be pioneered. Significant, meaningful experiences will be offered for students in data science and wireless communication. Participants of this program will have career-relevant internship/work experience, better retention rates, shorter timelines to graduation, reduced stress, and better motivation. It will contribute to the size and diversity of the U.S. science and technology workforce.

This project will utilize Real-Time Teaching where students proceed at their own pace. The instructor monitors, scaffolds, and self-regulates the class by convening small groups at times convenient to the students for semi-synchronous learning. This approach will be paired with industry internships relevant to careers in Computer Engineering (CE), Computer Science (CS), and Electrical Engineering (EE). The impact of these strategies and how they improve the retention and success of the Hispanic/Latinx, low-income, and/or non-traditional students in CE, CS, and EE will be assessed. Findings will be disseminated broadly through various presentations at conferences, publications, workshops and a project website. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Alberto Cruz
CAPomona2122567Cal Poly Pomona Foundation, Inc.HSI Institutional Transformation Project: Cal Poly Pomona INtentional Venture Engaging STEM Students (CPP INVESTS) With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 3 ITP project at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (CPP) will advance the goals of the HSI Program by embedding high-impact practices (HIPs) during three critical transitions in the STEM student life cycle: (1) secondary to post-secondary education -- scale First Year Experience (FYE) courses and course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs), and embed peer learning assistants (PLAs) in FYEs; (2) lower division to upper division STEM courses -- embed CUREs in second year STEM gateway courses and capstone and upper-division GE courses; (3) graduation into the STEM workforce -- utilize two innovative components: “micro” internships and alternative learning records (ALRs). The project will scale the number of STEM students participating in internships by embedding six-week “micro” internship experiences in junior gateway and senior capstone courses. The project will develop and implement two ALRs -- leadership and research career development. To support STEM faculty, the project will provide STEM Faculty Institutes to coach faculty in developing culturally relevant pedagogy anchored in diversity, equity, and inclusion, developing FYE courses, embedding CUREs, micro-internships, and ALRs in their courses and programs.

The specific aim of the project is to contribute to the understanding of how to build institutional capacity to enhance the quality of undergraduate STEM education at HSIs. The program evaluation plan will focus on institutional-level variables including recruitment, retention, and graduation rates of STEM students in the project by utilizing both formative and summative assessment methods. This project will employ quasi-experimental design to examine the impact of PLAs on the sense of belonging and academic self-efficacy of first year students in FYE courses. It will use mixed-methods to examine both the impact of micro-internships and ALRs on the professional identities of STEM students and the impact of the faculty professional development efforts, including pre-post surveys, interviews, and focused group discussions. The project will generate new knowledge and contribute to the development of the nascent research on the impact of ALRs and course-embedded micro-internships on STEM student success. The broader impact of the project is the potential to develop and test a model that will be disseminated to and can be utilized by the California State University system which serves the greatest number of Hispanics and underserved STEM students in the nation, and other institutions that serve large populations of students who are URMs, first-generation and low-income. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Olukemi Sawyerr
CACoalinga2122857West Hills Community CollegeCreating HSI Opportunities for Research and Undergraduate Support With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 2 project aims to increase recruitment of first-time students of color in STEM-majors, increase fall-to-fall persistence of STEM-majors, and elevate student’s ability to envision themselves as STEM professionals at West Hills College Coalinga, a 2-year rural community college in California’s Central Valley. The academic rigor associated with STEM-disciplines can be intimidating and impacts the likelihood of a student of color declaring a STEM-major and affects their retention. To create smooth onramps for students interested in STEM, support systems for retaining STEM-majors, and cultivate students sense of identity as a STEM professional, the Creating HSI Opportunities for Research and Undergraduate Support (CHORUS) project integrates mechanisms such as peer-to-peer mentoring for first-time STEM-majors, professional STEM speakers of color, and STEM-faculty guided research activities that culminate in an annual Virtual Symposium spotlighting students research conducted throughout the year. The CHORUS project will honor the student voice by holding focus groups to identify practices integrated into the CHORUS project that are personally meaningful and impactful. In terms of its broader impact, the CHORUS project will demonstrate the role rural community colleges play in nurturing STEM-majors, improving transfer readiness, and preparing students for success in STEM careers.

The Creating HSI Opportunities for Research and Undergraduate Support (CHORUS) project will examine the impacts of the project on STEM student enrollment, retention, and completion and the effect on students’ STEM identity at a 2-year community college in California’s Central Valley. The central research question is: To what degree does participation in early STEM activities lead to changes in STEM interest, recruitment, persistence, and identity in Latinx students? The project seeks to investigate the efficacy of culturally responsive practices on STEM identity including, peer-to-peer strength-based mentoring, connections with STEM professionals of color, and engagement in faculty-guided undergraduate research. Using a quasi-experimental design, the investigation will compare CHORUS and non-CHORUS students on STEM Identity and STEM motivation. The findings from the investigation will reveal the impact of undergraduate research and peer mentoring on enrollment, retention, and completion of STEM-majors with the intention to share the outcomes in journal publications and conference presentations. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Justin Garcia
CANorco2122936Riverside Community College District/Norco CampusIntegrating Culturally Relevant Pedagogy in Math Instruction at a Hispanic-Serving Community College to Increase Student Engagement and Success This project aims to serve the national interest by improving instructional practices in math education at an Hispanic-serving institution through the integration of culturally relevant pedagogical practices. A cohort of math faculty at the Norco Campus of Riverside Community College will pilot this professional development approach aimed at improving instructional practice in mathematics courses ranging from Math for Liberal Arts to Calculus. The project will also assign an educational advisor to work in tandem with participating math faculty to address student support issues. The intent of the project is to improve success, retention, and persistence for students in STEM fields through a combination of improved instructional techniques and student support services. The project will advance the scientific community’s understanding of how culturally relevant and sustaining pedagogy influences classroom practices and student outcomes.

Two goals guide the project. First is to support an initial group of three math faculty to develop culturally relevant and sustainable pedagogies while simultaneously enhancing support structures for students with a dedicated educational advisor. Second is to increase the number of students who successfully complete transfer-level math courses in their first year as students at a Hispanic-serving community college. The faculty in the cohort will make changes in six different courses, which will impact at least 900 students over the lifetime of the award. Through presentations and increased collaboration with the rest of the math department at Norco College, this pilot project has the potential to become a larger more transformative initiative that could expand throughout the Riverside Community College District. Results from the impacted courses will be compared to traditional courses, which will provide new knowledge on the impact of employing culturally responsive pedagogies and dedicated advising on the success, retention, and completion rates for students at Hispanic-serving community colleges. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Caroline Hutchings
CARiverside2122940Riverside Community College District/Riverside City CollegeClosing STEM Student Academic Performance Equity Gaps Through Student Research Exposure and Faculty Professional Development in Pedagogy and Curricular Innovation With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 2 Implementation and Evaluation project will implement evidence-based faculty development leading to an institutional culture supportive of diversity, equity, and inclusion within STEM disciplines at a minority serving community college. Further, it will demonstrate the combined impact of such pedagogical and curricular practices with sustained, multi-faceted student supports, and enhanced exposure to undergraduate research experiences for building STEM identity, leading to improved student academic performance and successful transfer to baccalaureate STEM degree programs. Annually, RCC serves more than 30,000 students. Students from traditionally underrepresented ethnic backgrounds represent 73% of students enrolled at RCC, of which Hispanic students are the majority group (63%). For the students of RCC, education, especially STEM education, offers the promise of improving their social mobility and quality of life. However, these disciplines are among the most rigorous, and have high course failure and attrition rates. There are notable equity performance gaps in core STEM course performance, persistence within STEM, and transfer to four-year universities for Hispanic, African American, and other underrepresented groups in higher education. We seek to change that through sustainable improvement in teaching and learning. To accomplish this goal, we are partnering with California State University San Bernardino (CSUSB) to replicate work they have done with faculty development around inclusive and responsive STEM pedagogy, and to expand targeted student support, mentorship and exposure to student research opportunities.

Two complementary sets of activity will be implemented: (1) peer-led faculty professional development focused on pedagogical and curricular improvements in STEM; (2) expansion of student experiential learning and research within and across STEM disciplines, and through exposure to summer research experiences at a transfer destination university. Those activities will result in (1) increased STEM faculty knowledge, skills, and utilization of culturally sensitive, inclusive, and active learning pedagogy; (2) increased STEM student retention, term-to-term persistence, course success, and transfer rate, and closing of student equity gaps; (3) contributions to the knowledge-base about diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in STEM. The project will create a STEM faculty learning community (FLC) to develop and implement equity-minded, evidence-based practices proven effective for supporting Hispanic and other underrepresented students to succeed in postsecondary STEM education. Research will contribute to the knowledge on STEM education within minority serving institutions by employing a mixed-methods approach to holistically assess the project’s implementation and outcomes at multiple levels. The project will measure changes in FLC participants’ awareness and implementation of high-impact practices and knowledge of DEI issues in STEM, and changes in students’ STEM-related identity, belonging, and career plans, as well as their academic performance and trajectory. The project results will be informed by and contribute to the literature on underrepresented minority student persistence and success in STEM disciplines, as well as STEM faculty professional development focused on high-impact teaching practices. Results of this work will be disseminated to multiple audiences via disciplinary conferences, and presentations at conferences specific to community colleges and Hispanic serving institutions. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Virginia White 
CALos Angeles2122941California State L A University Auxiliary Services Inc.Collaborative Research: HSI Implementation and Evaluation Project: Commitment to Learning Instilled by Mastery-Based Undergraduate Program Grading practices have been identified as one of the main culprits in the persistence of equity gaps. Traditional grading methods can be inequitable, ineffective, and even damaging to first-generation students, including Latinx students. To address this issue, a team of faculty from California State University, Los Angeles, in partnership with colleagues from East Los Angeles College and Pasadena City College, will work to transform student learning and assessment in second-year engineering courses. The project will develop and study a three-year professional development program to support the implementation of mastery-based grading, a form of grading that centers on two main concepts. First is that eventual mastery of the material is what counts, not artificial checkpoints during a term. Second is that multiple opportunities to show mastery should be available to students with no penalty for failed attempts. Mastery-based grading will be implemented at the aforementioned schools (three very-high enrolling Hispanic-serving institutions) with a goal of improving teaching and learning and promoting fundamental research on engaging student learning and engineering identity development. That research effort will be led by the portion of the project team at Arizona State University. The project will begin with a course redesign phase in which faculty will receive instruction in restructuring courses for mastery grading through a course redesign process. Faculty will then pilot the redesigned courses in the following semester, allowing for additional fine tuning of the redesign. Additional faculty will be brought into the redesigned courses, after being trained on the use of mastery-grading while engaged in an ongoing, cross-institutional faculty learning community. An embedded, student-centered research effort will investigate whether participation in a mastery-based learning environment shifts first-generation college students’ academic motivation, mindset, and attitudes over time.

Three goals will guide this project. First is to redesign courses using mastery-based grading to improve rates of transfer and course completion for sophomore engineering “gateway” courses. Second is to foster and measure shifts in student attitudes towards learning, confidence as learners, and engineering identity. Third is to create a sustainable, multi-institutional faculty learning community and professional development program for faculty to utilize mastery-based grading. Project research will advance understanding of the effect that mastery-based grading has on post-secondary engineering students. It will advance understanding of how the new learning environment impacts first-generation college engineering students’ achievement motivation, affective state, identity development, mindsets about their abilities to learn, and persistence beliefs (i.e., academic profiles). Achievement goal theory is a prominent theoretical framework in achievement motivation, yet there is a dearth of research using this framework within the context of a predominantly minority student population. This project will fill this gap by empirically examining first-generation college students’ achievement motivation and advance understanding of how first-generation college students’ achievement motivations support the development of their engineering identity. Major data sources include student surveys, student and faculty interviews, and examination of student outcomes in the transformed courses. In addition to dissemination through conference presentations and journal publications, a hybrid faculty development course for using Mastery-Based Grading will be developed and made available to project faculty and disseminated to facilitate broader adoption. The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program) aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
David Raymond
CAIrvine2122942University of California-IrvineImproving STEM Degree Completion with Professional Development to Support Inclusive and Equitable Classroom Practices With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program), this project aims to facilitate institutional transformation by addressing environmental factors that negatively influence STEM degree completion for groups of students. The project will offer a series of workshops that promote inclusivity in STEM fields by considering research on systemic issues and barriers to academic success. The project will seek to address degree completion disparities by providing faculty and administrators with activities, exercises, and facilitated discussions of research literature to examine social and cultural factors associated with their own and their students' lived experiences at the institution. The project will also leverage existing efforts on campus that aim to create more inclusive academic spaces. By taking a collaborative research-oriented approach to working with faculty and administrators, the project will seek to provide processes that other institutions can follow.

To directly address the importance of culture in the classroom, the project will employ a mixed methods research design, and a multi-session faculty professional development series integrated into the broader campus community, that provides faculty with a curriculum that will advance inclusion and equity in their learning spaces. Three overarching goals guide this project. First is to lay a solid foundation of local and national data related to disparities in persistence and retention that will be used to inform participant practices and behaviors in the classroom. Second is to increase awareness of the social and cultural locations of STEM students. Third is to modify classroom practices and policies in order to increase student engagement and success. Several research questions will be explored by the project team. According to STEM students, what social and cultural factors need to be considered to improve the classroom climate? What is the impact of participation in project activities on faculty conceptions of diversity and inclusion in the classroom? How does faculty participation in the project lead to increased implementation of evidence-based inclusive teaching? The key motivating factors for this project are to address systemic inequity that is manifested in STEM degree completion disparities and to share methods, data, and findings with HSIs across the country. Dissemination efforts will include a project website for sharing pertinent project information, multiple research publications and presentations, a research conference on creating inclusive academic spaces, and strategic connections with existing programs that are part of the NSF INCLUDES Network. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Pheather Harris
CARohnert Park2126711Sonoma State UniversitySupporting Active Learning in Introductory STEM Courses with Extended Reality California has the largest STEM workforce in the country and anticipates rapid growth in STEM careers. Despite its size and growth capacity, minority groups, especially Latinx workers, represent less than 15% of the California STEM workforce while making up nearly 40% of the working-age population. This imbalance presents a key opportunity which this project seeks to address. Supported by the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), California State University-Fresno, San Jose State University, Sonoma State University, and Fresno City College are collaborating to provide training for 30 STEM educators to integrate active learning into introductory STEM courses in chemistry, physics, civil engineering, and construction management. In particular, the project team will explore the use of extended reality (XR), which represents three technologies (virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality) that will enable students to engage with course materials in ways that cannot be accomplished in a traditional classroom setting. Building from prior NSF-funded work that resulted in positive outcomes for students using XR in early STEM courses, the project will impact more than 15,000 undergraduates and will establish a community of practice centered on XR-enhanced active learning. The project research plan will generate new knowledge about faculty implementation of XR technology, techniques for implementing XR effectively, and the impact of these approaches on student learning outcomes. The involvement of the California State University (CSU) Chancellor’s office will support institutional and community transformation, and the collaboration with Fresno City College. This is part of a more extensive relationship which introduces a new connection between the CSU system and the California Community College (CCC) system, which serves more than 2 million students annually throughout its 116 colleges.

The goal of this project is to design, implement, and evaluate XR-supported active learning strategies to narrow achievement gaps and promote systemic transformation at the collaborating institutions to achieve equitable STEM education. Using a mixed-method research design, the project team will investigate three research questions. 1) What are the barriers and pathways for STEM instructors across disciplines when adopting XR in active learning for introductory courses? 2) What factors and strategies influence XR's effectiveness for achieving learning outcomes in introductory STEM courses? and 3) What are the pedagogical impacts of XR on learning and achievement gaps for minority students whose participation in STEM fields of study lags behind their representation in the general population? The project team will collaborate closely with key partners and external advisory board members to pursue four goals. First is to develop a community of practice to support STEM faculty efforts to adopt and sustain XR-enhanced, student-centered active learning. Second is to create an online repository of XR open educational resources. Third is to conduct in-class trials and pilots to compare the effectiveness and pedagogical impacts of different types of XR technologies and active learning experiences. Fourth is to lead faculty professional development to engage a broader education community in developing and disseminating pedagogical uses of XR in STEM. The findings of this project will ultimately advance the understanding of a systemic, inclusive approach that leverages XR technologies for active learning in STEM to meet the diverse needs of a diverse population of students. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Sara Kassis
CASan Jose2126716San Jose State University FoundationSupporting Active Learning in Introductory STEM Courses with Extended Reality California has the largest STEM workforce in the country and anticipates rapid growth in STEM careers. Despite its size and growth capacity, minority groups, especially Latinx workers, represent less than 15% of the California STEM workforce while making up nearly 40% of the working-age population. This imbalance presents a key opportunity which this project seeks to address. Supported by the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), California State University-Fresno, San Jose State University, Sonoma State University, and Fresno City College are collaborating to provide training for 30 STEM educators to integrate active learning into introductory STEM courses in chemistry, physics, civil engineering, and construction management. In particular, the project team will explore the use of extended reality (XR), which represents three technologies (virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality) that will enable students to engage with course materials in ways that cannot be accomplished in a traditional classroom setting. Building from prior NSF-funded work that resulted in positive outcomes for students using XR in early STEM courses, the project will impact more than 15,000 undergraduates and will establish a community of practice centered on XR-enhanced active learning. The project research plan will generate new knowledge about faculty implementation of XR technology, techniques for implementing XR effectively, and the impact of these approaches on student learning outcomes. The involvement of the California State University (CSU) Chancellor’s office will support institutional and community transformation, and the collaboration with Fresno City College. This is part of a more extensive relationship which introduces a new connection between the CSU system and the California Community College (CCC) system, which serves more than 2 million students annually throughout its 116 colleges.

The goal of this project is to design, implement, and evaluate XR-supported active learning strategies to narrow achievement gaps and promote systemic transformation at the collaborating institutions to achieve equitable STEM education. Using a mixed-method research design, the project team will investigate three research questions. 1) What are the barriers and pathways for STEM instructors across disciplines when adopting XR in active learning for introductory courses? 2) What factors and strategies influence XR's effectiveness for achieving learning outcomes in introductory STEM courses? and 3) What are the pedagogical impacts of XR on learning and achievement gaps for minority students whose participation in STEM fields of study lags behind their representation in the general population? The project team will collaborate closely with key partners and external advisory board members to pursue four goals. First is to develop a community of practice to support STEM faculty efforts to adopt and sustain XR-enhanced, student-centered active learning. Second is to create an online repository of XR open educational resources. Third is to conduct in-class trials and pilots to compare the effectiveness and pedagogical impacts of different types of XR technologies and active learning experiences. Fourth is to lead faculty professional development to engage a broader education community in developing and disseminating pedagogical uses of XR in STEM. The findings of this project will ultimately advance the understanding of a systemic, inclusive approach that leverages XR technologies for active learning in STEM to meet the diverse needs of a diverse population of students. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Abraham Wolcott
CAFresno2126723California State University-Fresno FoundationSupporting Active Learning in Introductory STEM Courses with Extended Reality California has the largest STEM workforce in the country and anticipates rapid growth in STEM careers. Despite its size and growth capacity, minority groups, especially Latinx workers, represent less than 15% of the California STEM workforce while making up nearly 40% of the working-age population. This imbalance presents a key opportunity which this project seeks to address. Supported by the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), California State University-Fresno, San Jose State University, Sonoma State University, and Fresno City College are collaborating to provide training for 30 STEM educators to integrate active learning into introductory STEM courses in chemistry, physics, civil engineering, and construction management. In particular, the project team will explore the use of extended reality (XR), which represents three technologies (virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality) that will enable students to engage with course materials in ways that cannot be accomplished in a traditional classroom setting. Building from prior NSF-funded work that resulted in positive outcomes for students using XR in early STEM courses, the project will impact more than 15,000 undergraduates and will establish a community of practice centered on XR-enhanced active learning. The project research plan will generate new knowledge about faculty implementation of XR technology, techniques for implementing XR effectively, and the impact of these approaches on student learning outcomes. The involvement of the California State University (CSU) Chancellor’s office will support institutional and community transformation, and the collaboration with Fresno City College. This is part of a more extensive relationship which introduces a new connection between the CSU system and the California Community College (CCC) system, which serves more than 2 million students annually throughout its 116 colleges.

The goal of this project is to design, implement, and evaluate XR-supported active learning strategies to narrow achievement gaps and promote systemic transformation at the collaborating institutions to achieve equitable STEM education. Using a mixed-method research design, the project team will investigate three research questions. 1) What are the barriers and pathways for STEM instructors across disciplines when adopting XR in active learning for introductory courses? 2) What factors and strategies influence XR's effectiveness for achieving learning outcomes in introductory STEM courses? and 3) What are the pedagogical impacts of XR on learning and achievement gaps for minority students whose participation in STEM fields of study lags behind their representation in the general population? The project team will collaborate closely with key partners and external advisory board members to pursue four goals. First is to develop a community of practice to support STEM faculty efforts to adopt and sustain XR-enhanced, student-centered active learning. Second is to create an online repository of XR open educational resources. Third is to conduct in-class trials and pilots to compare the effectiveness and pedagogical impacts of different types of XR technologies and active learning experiences. Fourth is to lead faculty professional development to engage a broader education community in developing and disseminating pedagogical uses of XR in STEM. The findings of this project will ultimately advance the understanding of a systemic, inclusive approach that leverages XR technologies for active learning in STEM to meet the diverse needs of a diverse population of students. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Wei Wu
CASan Bernadino2137332University Enterprises Corporation at CSUSBCollaborative Research: HSI Conference: Exploring the Realities of Contingent Latinx Faculty in STEM With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this HSI Conference project aims to more deeply explore across Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI), the realities of contingent (part-time, contract-bound, or non-tenure track) Latinx faculty with various research and teaching roles. This collaborative project consists of a two-part conference focusing on the experiences of Latinx faculty in STEM, one part for faculty members themselves, and one for their administrators. This work will explore the working realities of contingent faculty who represent over 46% of the employed faculty in higher education systems. In particular, we will seek to understand the challenges many contingent faculty, primarily from the Latinx communities, experience in the California State University (CSU) system. CSU schools collectively form one of the largest pools of HSIs in the nation in terms of Latina/o undergraduate enrollment in HSIs. This work will contribute to a fairly untapped and underexplored area of research to help uncover the hidden barriers that prevent the success and navigation of these individuals in their professions. Although this conference proposal is primarily focused on Latinx contingent faculty in STEM, the anticipated work and results will serve as a baseline for future research as well as policy-informed initiatives to support the success of these faculty, and by extension their students.

The aims of this project are to (1) coalesce both HSI, Latinx contingent STEM faculty, and administrators to examine the hidden realities of Latinx contingent faculty in STEM; (2) to qualitatively analyze the conference discussions using STEM education research methods and evaluate and analyze conference outcomes from a policy perspective (led by RAND Corporation) to co-generate a policy brief to share with STEM deans and HSI administrators; and (3) develop an infographic summary to disseminate results to organizations and stakeholders with an interest in issues of Latinx contingent faculty in STEM and policy reform. The research methods will be purely exploratory and qualitative in nature using case study research approaches. Qualitative data will be analyzed through thematic and emerging coding techniques and be used toward the development of a codebook and dissemination products that inform the dissemination products (e.g., policy brief). With the support of RAND Corporation, a policy think tank, we will not only disseminate the work through academic journals but reach a wider academic audience of ways to support contingent faculty, which in turn are in the frontlines of supporting undergraduate (and often marginalized) students in STEM. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Jose Munoz
CAFullerton2142122California State University-Fullerton Auxiliary Services CorporationTransforming Undergraduate Mathematics Education Through Faculty Development in Active Learning and Equity-Minded Instruction This project aims to serve the national interest by transforming undergraduate mathematics teaching to be more equity-minded and actively engaged. This project will implement and research a robust and evidence-based professional development (PD) program to train and support faculty in adopting an active learning in mathematics (ALM) approach. The ALM approach will have a deliberate focus on equity-minded instruction. Focusing on transforming mathematics instruction is important because of the documented reputation of mathematics courses as gatekeepers, with gaps magnified for students from groups underrepresented in STEM. These gaps limit broader participation in STEM. With an urgent need to improve STEM education, this project uses evidence-based best practices in PD to engage faculty in opportunities to grow as educators through continuous and sustained community-centered activities. A unique emphasis is on building communities of practice through a variety of lower- and higher-stakes PD formats and the specific focus on in-house PD using the department as the unit of change. This project seeks to increase the number of faculty implementing evidence-based, effective, and equitable teaching practices. Investigation of changes in department culture as teaching is transformed will be invaluable to other departments who aspire to change.

The long-term goal of the Mathematics Equity through Teaching Actively (META) project is to improve student outcomes in undergraduate mathematics education. META will advance this goal by implementing a novel PD program to transform faculty skills and practices in the near-term and improve student outcomes in the long-term. META will also provide an evidence base for scaling the PD program for adoption at other institutions. To advance understanding of the factors that influence faculty interest in ALM and the success of equity-minded ALM-focused PD, META will conduct research to assess faculty challenges, faculty supports, and institutional characteristics that may affect program outcomes. META research will identify and evaluate the impact of faculty challenges, supports, and faculty adoption of equity-minded ALM at the department level. The project’s research questions are: (1) What are the reported supports and challenges for mathematics faculty who strive to transform their instruction towards equity-minded ALM? and (2) What department-level characteristics support instructional transformation towards equity-minded ALM? To address the research questions, META will collect six data sources: faculty focus groups, individual faculty interviews, assessment surveys from PD activities, recorded pre-observation meetings, completed self-assessment classroom protocols, and recorded post-observation meetings. Data will be analyzed using typological analysis techniques that were employed in META’s pilot project. Results will be disseminated published manuscripts, conference presentations, and distribution among a multitude of existing networks. Findings from META will be of particular interest to departments that are seeking a robust model of PD to support their faculty in becoming more equity-minded while embracing ALM. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Institutional and Community Transformation track, the program supports efforts to transform and improve STEM education across institutions of higher education and disciplinary communities. This project is also supported by the NSF IUSE:HSI program, which seeks to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Alison Marzocchi
CAPomona2142490Cal Poly Pomona Foundation, Inc.Collaborative Research: Broadening Inclusive Participation in Artificial Intelligence Undergraduate Education for Social Good Using A Situated Learning Approach This project aims to serve the national interest by transforming undergraduate mathematics teaching to be more equity-minded and actively engaged. This project will implement and research a robust and evidence-based professional development (PD) program to train and support faculty in adopting an active learning in mathematics (ALM) approach. The ALM approach will have a deliberate focus on equity-minded instruction. Focusing on transforming mathematics instruction is important because of the documented reputation of mathematics courses as gatekeepers, with gaps magnified for students from groups underrepresented in STEM. These gaps limit broader participation in STEM. With an urgent need to improve STEM education, this project uses evidence-based best practices in PD to engage faculty in opportunities to grow as educators through continuous and sustained community-centered activities. A unique emphasis is on building communities of practice through a variety of lower- and higher-stakes PD formats and the specific focus on in-house PD using the department as the unit of change. This project seeks to increase the number of faculty implementing evidence-based, effective, and equitable teaching practices. Investigation of changes in department culture as teaching is transformed will be invaluable to other departments who aspire to change.

The long-term goal of the Mathematics Equity through Teaching Actively (META) project is to improve student outcomes in undergraduate mathematics education. META will advance this goal by implementing a novel PD program to transform faculty skills and practices in the near-term and improve student outcomes in the long-term. META will also provide an evidence base for scaling the PD program for adoption at other institutions. To advance understanding of the factors that influence faculty interest in ALM and the success of equity-minded ALM-focused PD, META will conduct research to assess faculty challenges, faculty supports, and institutional characteristics that may affect program outcomes. META research will identify and evaluate the impact of faculty challenges, supports, and faculty adoption of equity-minded ALM at the department level. The project’s research questions are: (1) What are the reported supports and challenges for mathematics faculty who strive to transform their instruction towards equity-minded ALM? and (2) What department-level characteristics support instructional transformation towards equity-minded ALM? To address the research questions, META will collect six data sources: faculty focus groups, individual faculty interviews, assessment surveys from PD activities, recorded pre-observation meetings, completed self-assessment classroom protocols, and recorded post-observation meetings. Data will be analyzed using typological analysis techniques that were employed in META’s pilot project. Results will be disseminated published manuscripts, conference presentations, and distribution among a multitude of existing networks. Findings from META will be of particular interest to departments that are seeking a robust model of PD to support their faculty in becoming more equity-minded while embracing ALM. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Institutional and Community Transformation track, the program supports efforts to transform and improve STEM education across institutions of higher education and disciplinary communities. This project is also supported by the NSF IUSE:HSI program, which seeks to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Gabriel Granco
CASan Bernadino2142503University Enterprises Corporation at CSUSBCollaborative Research: Broadening Inclusive Participation in Artificial Intelligence Undergraduate Education for Social Good Using A Situated Learning Approach This project aims to serve the national interest by improving college-level education in artificial intelligence (AI). Advances in AI will likely improve transportation, education, healthcare, and other societal issues. It is important that college students gain skills in AI to prepare them to be future leaders and innovators. However, current AI education lacks both broad multidisciplinary participation and diversity. The project plans to develop and implement strategies for improving education in AI that are available to all students, not just those enrolled in computer science programs. To do so, the project team hopes to develop materials that identify social problems and teach students to apply AI concepts and methods to address these problems. As a result, this project may better prepare today’s college students to enter the STEM workforce of the future.

The project intends to develop AI learning modules to stimulate AI learning in students’ communities. The students will be trained how to identify social problems. The instructors will teach students AI concepts and applications through hands-on AI labs. The students will learn how to propose AI-powered solutions to address social issues considering both benefits and risks. The interdisciplinary AI For Social Good (AI4SG) modules will be implemented in the programs of management information systems, geography, and computer science at three California State University campuses. The team plans to host an annual workshop to showcase student projects and disseminate best practices of AI4SG education. The project will use both quantitative and qualitative research methods and hopes to generate evidence on how AI4SG education, through culturally responsive computing, can impact motivation, learning outcomes, innovation, and equity gaps. This project is supported by the NSF IUSE: EHR Program, which supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools. Additional support is provided by the NSF IUSE:HSI program, which seeks to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Yunfei Hou
CASan Jose2142783San Jose State University FoundationCollaborative Research: Broadening Inclusive Participation in Artificial Intelligence Undergraduate Education for Social Good Using A Situated Learning Approach This project aims to serve the national interest by improving college-level education in artificial intelligence (AI). Advances in AI will likely improve transportation, education, healthcare, and other societal issues. It is important that college students gain skills in AI to prepare them to be future leaders and innovators. However, current AI education lacks both broad multidisciplinary participation and diversity. The project plans to develop and implement strategies for improving education in AI that are available to all students, not just those enrolled in computer science programs. To do so, the project team hopes to develop materials that identify social problems and teach students to apply AI concepts and methods to address these problems. As a result, this project may better prepare today’s college students to enter the STEM workforce of the future.

The project intends to develop AI learning modules to stimulate AI learning in students’ communities. The students will be trained how to identify social problems. The instructors will teach students AI concepts and applications through hands-on AI labs. The students will learn how to propose AI-powered solutions to address social issues considering both benefits and risks. The interdisciplinary AI For Social Good (AI4SG) modules will be implemented in the programs of management information systems, geography, and computer science at three California State University campuses. The team plans to host an annual workshop to showcase student projects and disseminate best practices of AI4SG education. The project will use both quantitative and qualitative research methods and hopes to generate evidence on how AI4SG education, through culturally responsive computing, can impact motivation, learning outcomes, innovation, and equity gaps. This project is supported by the NSF IUSE: EHR Program, which supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools. Additional support is provided by the NSF IUSE:HSI program, which seeks to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Yu Chen
CASan Diego2150064SAN DIEGO COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICTSupporting Student Science Identity and Success through Field Experiences and Course Exploration With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 Pilot project aims to increase the number of students choosing STEM degree and career paths. This project from San Diego Mesa College will develop and explore collaborative learning opportunities that expose students to authentic research experiences that are designed to strengthen students’ STEM identity. Specifically, the project will revise existing curricula and compare three models for providing classroom- and field-based research experiences across three courses in biology, physical geology, and the physical sciences. The research projects and activities will be developed with community partners, which will allow students to tap into their interest in their community and the world around them. Also, building from existing academic and science skills courses, the project will develop, test, and refine an online science identity module that will allow students to acquire new perspectives and important skills.

The project research experiences will be developed to align with topics covered in the three targeted courses. In the first model, all students in the general physical science course will complete research projects embedded directly into the four main course units. Depending on the location and available facilities, student research projects will be conducted either in the field or in the classroom using original data. The second model will provide an optional, multi-day field experience focused on biodiversity for students in the second biology course offered for majors. Finally, the project will develop and offer a 10-day, for-credit summer research course emphasizing geoscience and astronomy. The project evaluation plan will use surveys, focus groups, and student outcome data to explore the impacts of the online module and the various research experiences on student participants. Outcomes will be disseminated to local and national communities of interest, including 2- and 4-year HSIs looking to provide similar experiences for their students. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs are supported by this program.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Jennifer Snyder
CAWoodland Hills2150195Los Angeles Pierce CollegeCollaborative Undergraduate Research Experiences in the Mathematical Sciences for Community College Students With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 pilot project aims to engage community college students and faculty in meaningful research experiences in mathematics, statistics, and data science. A central goal of the project is to increase the participation rate of underrepresented minority community college students in research experiences for undergraduates (REU) programs. Many community college students work full-time jobs or have family duties, presenting a challenge to participate in a traditional research experience. Additionally, community college faculty responsibilities are often centered on providing top quality classroom instruction, leaving limited time to guide student research projects. Additionally, early research experiences in the mathematical sciences are less common than in some other disciplines, which may keep students from discovering a passion for the discipline as they begin their academic careers. This project addresses these challenges by adapting the proven Research Experiences in Community Colleges (RE-C^2) model to an online community of practice. The project will explore the effectiveness of the RE-C^2 format at multiple sites nationwide by fostering collaboration between student researchers and faculty. Specifically, each year, five teams consisting of two community college students, one community college faculty, and one faculty member from a 4-year institution will work together to explore open problems from across the mathematical sciences.

The project will give community college students the opportunity to grow mathematically and gain technical and communication skills by introducing them to the excitement of collaborative research. Led by Los Angeles Pierce College, this effort includes collaborators from George Mason University, Inter American University of Puerto Rico, UCLA, and the University of Texas at Arlington. During their year-long research project, students will enroll in coursework in linear algebra and differential equations. Concurrently taking these courses and collaborating on an original research project will provide a rich and engaging intellectual environment where participating students will gain new perspectives on mathematics and their future at STEM learners and professionals. Project evaluation will use surveys and focus groups to assess students’ technical, communication, problem solving and collaborative skills, awareness of mathematics, and impact of the program on the desire to pursue additional mathematical coursework and, ultimately, a STEM career. Project outcomes, including student research findings, will be disseminated through presentations, publications, and direct contact with peer institutions looking to build similar programs. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs are supported by this program.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Edouard Tchertchian
CACity of Industry2150298Rio Hondo CollegeTransitions and Research Across Interfaces (TRAINS) With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 2: IEP aims to transition students at HSI community colleges to baccalaureate-granting institutions with a declared major in a science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) discipline. Despite the social, economic, and innovation benefits of a diverse workforce in STEM fields, graduates in these fields do not reflect the inclusive community necessary for America to compete globally. Although 18% of the American population identifies as being non-white Hispanic, Bachelor’s degrees in STEM fields at baccalaureate-granting institutions are awarded at a dramatically lower rate to Hispanic students. Community colleges are in a position to address this disparity with 27% of all community college students identifying as Hispanic and over 200 community colleges that have been federally recognized as HSIs. This project, Transitions and Research Across Interfaces (TRAINS), will facilitate the transition of students at Rio Hondo College, an HSI community college, into future leaders in STEM fields through an intensive, 15-month classroom/research laboratory experience at Rio Hondo College and the University of Southern California. By providing career counseling, laboratory training, and direct mentoring, TRAINS will seek to reverse the loss of interest in STEM Fields amongst community college students and provide the opportunity for students to transfer to baccalaureate-granting institutions where they may graduate and pursue a career in a STEM field. Through data acquired through this program, TRAINS will eventually present a modular strategy that can be replicated at other population centers (that contain community colleges and research universities) and fundamentally redefine the role of community colleges as a strategic resource for America’s scientific and engineering workforce.

Beyond the primary aim of successfully increasing the rate at which Rio Hondo students transfer to baccalaureate-granting institution and eventually pursue a career in a STEM field, TRAINS will also develop a cohort of graduate students/postdoctoral fellows that can mentor non-traditional students and advance knowledge on supporting students to overcoming cultural barriers that lead to attrition in interest in STEM fields. These aims will be facilitated by program evaluation specialists at the Center for Science and Engineering Partnerships (CSEP) at the University of California, Santa Barbara and education research team at High Point University. CSEP will ensure progress towards program objectives through timely feedback via focus groups and tracking surveys. The education research team will focus on testing novel strategies and refining best practices to increase the persistence for non-traditional students to maintain their interest in STEM fields. The results of this program will be disseminated through education research journals and promotion at regional/national conferences. Furthermore, with over 200,000 students that attend HSI community colleges within 15 miles of the University Park Campus at the University of Southern California, this program contains opportunities for expansion and can serve as a model by which other regions integrate community college students into research enriched programs. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Christian Vaca
CASan Francisco2150323San Francisco State UniversityHSI Implementation and Evaluation Project: Self-sustaining Peer Mentor Support System for Computer Science Students With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Implementation and Evaluation Project aims to build a sustainable, inclusive learning community for HSI Computer Science (CS) students through a peer mentoring program to enhance the quality of CS education and to increase the retention and graduation rates of students in CS, particularly Hispanic students. CS suffers from several disparities along racial and gender lines that limit the participation of students in a field that is becoming more critical for their future career paths and for society as a whole. The project team has identified two reasons leading to this problem that will addressed in this project. First, there is a critical shortage of educational resources for our undergraduate students in the first CS course. Many students struggle with the introductory curriculum and existing resources don't appear to be sufficient, particularly for underrepresented groups. Second, students, especially underrepresented students, are not affirmed in their CS identities and sense of belonging. This project will implement a peer mentor program to develop an effective, evidence-based, and sustainable program for the preparation, tutoring, and ongoing support of undergraduate students in the CS department at SFSU and evaluate its effectiveness. By recruiting diverse peer mentors, training them in equitable and inclusive pedagogical techniques, and establishing an affirming mentoring procedure, this project will develop mentors themselves to become future leaders while creating a safe and inclusive learning community for entry level CS students. This program will directly benefit approximately 800 CS students at SFSU, including 750 students who are enrolled in the introductory CS class and 50 peer mentors each calendar year.

By building an inclusive, sustainable community of learners that affirms the experiences and identities of underrepresented students, the project will help diversify the CS pipeline, leading to a wider range of ideas and approaches that can be brought to bear on society’s most pressing problems. Research will support programmatic activities as well as contributing new knowledge important to addressing the needs of CS students from marginalized groups. The team will explore three research questions: (1) to what extent does participation in peer mentoring affect mentees’ sense of belonging, CS identity, and retention in the field? (2) to what extent does participation in an inclusive pedagogy class support peer mentors in developing a growth mindset and asset-based thinking, identifying the need for inclusive teaching practices, and implementing such practices? (3) what are the benefits to peer mentors in participation in the program, including their sense of belonging and CS identity? Assessment will use a mixed-methods approach, triangulating the results of Likert-scale surveys, open-ended surveys, semi-structured interviews, course artifacts and grade distributions. It is anticipated that mentees’ and mentors' sense of belonging, CS identity, and program retention will increase. Results will be disseminated through CS and STEM education conferences and publications and the CSU Chancellor's office. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Jingyi Wang
CASan Diego2150400San Diego State University FoundationHSI Pilot Project: Building Bridges into Math and STEM at San Diego State University-Imperial Valley With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this pilot project aims to build math capacity at San Diego State University-Imperial Valley (SDSU-IV) and enhance undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education by developing and analyzing a Summer Bridge Math Experience (SBME) to newly admitted students who have math/statistics course requirements. The format of the SBME will be a four-day summer bridge program with two major components: 1) math workshops and 2) campus-life orientation/career introductory field trips. The mission of the program is to assist students with their math preparation and adjustment of both academic and student life at SDSU-IV through workshops, activities, resources, and various experiences which prepare them for their successful academic and social transition to the University. Assessments will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the program in increasing students’ math confidence level and for program improvement. Enrollment information and future course success will be used to evaluate program impact. The SBME at SDSU-IV will 1) bridge the community STEM workforce shortfalls and equity gaps, 2) maximize students' STEM and mathematics confidence, and 3) align STEM program outcomes with workforce needs. In addition, it will benefit society by improving the STEM education quality for underrepresented groups, at SDSU-IV directly, and bridge the gap between their desire for more diversified career choices and local community needs at Imperial Valley.

The primary goals of this project are to 1) provide an effective math learning experience, 2) facilitate a smooth first-year transition to the university environment, 3) connect newly admitted students to the SDSU-IV community by helping them build their support network (e.g. academic and student support services) to ultimately increase retention and college completion, 4) spark general STEM interest, and 5) attract minority students to enroll into the new B.A. in Mathematics. In addition, the program will help students: assume responsibility for their learning both in and out of the classroom; acquire academic, personal, and social skills essential to success in college and beyond; develop effective communication skills; establish a supportive cohort with fellow students; and gain campus knowledge to readily identify faculty, staff, and campus resources. Through targeted recruitment activities, the program will seek to increase STEM enrollments of underrepresented populations including women and students of color. Results from the project will inform activities at the University, but also improve STEM recruitment and retention activities across similar institutions that are rural HSIs and attend to economically disadvantaged, and geographically marginalized populations, particularly the US-Mexico border states. This HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Huan Qin
CASanta Cruz2150444University of California-Santa CruzImplementation and Evaluation of Curricular Undergraduate Research Experiences in the Life Sciences With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) program, this Track 2 project focuses on improving the success of underrepresented students in the life sciences. Underrepresented and first-generation college students face many structural impediments in higher education such as a lack of awareness on how to become involved in high impact practices like undergraduate research experiences and internships. Undergraduate research has been shown to be a major contributor to student academic success, helping to shape students' sense of belonging in STEM. A major goal of this project is to increase the number of course-based undergraduate research (CURE) laboratories so that more students, including those from underrepresented groups have access to this transformative pedagogical intervention. Students who complete CURE labs will be invited to meet with industry representatives to explore potential internship opportunities. This project aims to determine how experiential learning through CUREs influences student success.

This project will expand CUREs as an approach to provide research opportunities for students interested in molecular, cellular, and developmental biology. The plan has two components. First, the department will establish four new faculty-led CURE labs that will engage up to 100 undergraduates. By bridging research and education, this program will create opportunities for students to work with faculty on authentic research projects in cutting edge fields in molecular, cellular, and developmental biology. Through embedding research into the curriculum, the project will empower students from groups underrepresented in STEM to become members of the research community. The second part of this project will focus on developing partnerships with biotechnology companies in Silicon Valley to provide student internships. These partnerships will increase the college’s capacity for providing research experiences for undergraduates as well as providing students with important networking opportunities for post-graduation careers. The project will assess student learning in the CURES by examining a student’s understanding of experimental design and their self-reported gains in scientific skills. Finally, the project will examine the impact CUREs have on student achievement by comparing the retention and graduation rates of students enrolled in the CURES to those of students who do not enroll in a CURE. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs are supported by this program.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Jeremy Sanford
CAAtherton2150454Menlo CollegeHSI Pilot Project: Improving Undergraduate Biology Courses to Enhance Student Achievement and Interest in Biology and Related Coursework and Careers With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program this project aims to investigate the effect of a new introductory multidisciplinary biology curriculum that integrates content exploring biological concepts related to race on student academic achievement, the pursuit of additional biology coursework, and career aspirations in STEM. Underrepresented minority students at HSIs have the academic abilities to succeed in STEM, but they are underrepresented in STEM majors and occupations. At Menlo College, Hispanic students in particular, tend to choose business majors due to expectations of well-paid careers. As an HSI in Silicon Valley with a focus on undergraduate business education, Menlo College is uniquely situated to test how a change to the undergraduate biology curriculum can encourage Hispanic students majoring in business to increase their knowledge of biology and pursue careers in or related to biotechnology. The project will develop a new introductory multidisciplinary biology course that integrates two existing classes: Human Biology and Evolution, and Race and Racism. The class will include guest speakers from local biotechnology companies and students will visit local biotech businesses. The new curriculum is expected to generate enhanced student success, interest in completing additional biology classes, and interest in pursuing careers in biotechnology and related STEM fields.

The work will contribute to our understanding of how best to enhance Hispanic student academic success and postgraduate involvement in biology and related STEM fields through changes to undergraduate biology curricula, with the broader effect of increased numbers of Hispanic students choosing STEM postgraduate work and careers. Across four semesters, we will compare student learning and attitudes between students assigned to one of three versions of the introductory biology course (Human Biology): treatment, control, and baseline. Treatment sections will add a new race and racism module, with some lectures and labs delivered by an instructor with appropriate expertise and experience. Control sections will deliver the standard curriculum but the same instructor will deliver lectures and lab sessions in parallel with the treatment sections. Baseline sections will follow the standard curriculum. We hypothesize that enrollment in the treatment course will increase student learning and interest in STEM courses and careers. We expect that these effects will be stronger among students who identify as a race/ethnicity other than white, non-Hispanic. Outcomes will be measured using standard assessment procedures (e.g., final exams), student surveys, and institutional data (e.g., enrollment in additional biology courses, and post-graduation destinations). Findings will be submitted to an academic journal for dissemination with the broader public. Pilot data will also be used to generate an HSI Track 2: Implementation and Evaluation Project proposal to extend the insights from the pilot to improve student success in other STEM courses at Menlo College (and provide guidance for other institutions seeking to make similar curricular shifts). The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Melissa Michelson
CAMoraga2150464Saint Mary's College of CaliforniaHSI Implementation and Evaluation Project: First year approaches to enhance science identity and STEM persistence With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 2 project aims to enhance the persistence and success of students from groups historically underrepresented in the STEM fields, particularly in their first year of STEM courses, within the context of a primarily undergraduate institution with a liberal arts and sciences based curriculum. This kind of institution is under-studied, and this project will serve both as a proof-of-concept and prototype for other primarily undergraduate institutions. Saint Mary's College of California will implement a broad approach that includes: (1) designing a science-motivated and contextualized calculus readiness course; (2) integrating research-oriented modules in introductory labs for chemistry and physics; (3) introducing a multidisciplinary science bridge midway through the year; and (4) redeveloping existing advising cohorts and developing peer mentoring for first year STEM students. The investigators will also (5) establish an educator learning community to foster a climate conducive to learning and inclusion, and to support equitable and excellent STEM education. The expected outcomes of this work are to increase the retention rate of STEM-interested students, reduce observed gaps in retention and success rates for students from historically underrepresented groups and effect positive changes in the science identity of first year STEM-interested students.

The accompanying STEM education research has two areas of focus: the effectiveness of the science contextualized math course compared to a traditional calculus readiness course; and characterizing the nature of the peer mentor-mentee relationship and how its aspects affect science identity and student retention in STEM. To assess the effectiveness of the science contextualized math course, the investigators will compare retention rates, success rates, and course grades in STEM courses of students who participate in the new science contextualized course to those who participated in the existing model of remediation. They will also collect qualitative data to address the related question of how well the science contextualized math course supports the development of science identity. To assess the peer mentor-mentee relationship and its impacts, the investigators will analyze qualitative data from post mentor-mentee meeting reports, as well as compare first year retention and success rates of students with peer mentors compared to those without peer mentors. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Mari-Anne Rosario
CABakersfield2150520Bakersfield CollegePromoting Student Persistence, Learning, and Understanding Through an Expanded MESA Program With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 project aims to expand Bakersfield College’s Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement (MESA) program and study the impact of its various aspects on student success. MESA participants at Bakersfield College have improved course completion rates and other outcomes, and are on a path to graduate with an associate degree in a STEM discipline and/or transfer to four-year institutions. The project has three main goals: (1) expand the number of MESA program student participants from 107 to 200 students per semester to establish a baseline for future study and give preliminary insight to challenges that might exist for further expansion; (2) determine which of the general MESA program components have the greatest impact on student success; and (3) build awareness and explore how to better integrate MESA into the Guided Pathway organization of Bakersfield College. Major components of the MESA program that will be explored include workshops, informal and peer mentoring, volunteering in the community, undergraduate research, opportunities to attend conferences, industry and laboratory field trips, and job shadowing. Understanding how to grow the program while maintaining positive outcomes will provide important insights, particularly for community colleges that serve rural populations as they look to implement successful strategies for bridging the gap for underserved groups to access the STEM professions.

Often at community colleges, the path to transfer in STEM takes longer than two years and the number of students who successfully transfer can be low. This project will contribute to the knowledge base in STEM education by studying how key components of Bakersfield College’s MESA program, which accounts for 48% of STEM pathway degrees while only engaging 6% of STEM pathway students, can be scaled up without diminishing outcomes. Major data sources include focus groups of current MESA program participants, a survey of MESA graduates, and a survey to gauge awareness of the MESA program across the proposing institution. The expected results are to identify the critical elements of the program needed to increase the number of participants and maintain its level of effectiveness. The results of the research study will be disseminated amongst similar institutions, particularly those that serve large minority populations and may be looking for scalable strategies to support STEM degree completion. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs are supported by this program.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
James McGarrah
CASan Diego2202413San Diego State University FoundationSeeing Virtually: Toward a Vision of Teaching Physics in 3-D Space One reason that students struggle in introductory physics classes, which are often key entry points for science, technology, engineering, and math majors, is that certain topics are difficult to mentally visualize and manipulate. For example, vectors and fields are challenging in their own right, and even more so when presented using static two-dimensional imagery. Conversely, in virtual reality where students are able to be present in a tactile environment and use familiar gestures to interact with objects, the potential for deeper learning is enhanced. The scope of this project involves developing virtual reality-based physics learning spaces in which students can explore models from multiple angles, manipulate the components, and interact with an instructor who is also engaged within the environment. A critical component of the design is inclusive access, as the platform does not require expensive or complicated equipment. All students will be able to participate from anywhere with nothing more than a smartphone and a desire to learn.

The goal of this project is to develop spatial computing environments that are specialized for undergraduate physics education. By leveraging expertise in educational research and state-of-the-art technologies, the team will prototype, iteratively develop, and optimize collaborative educational spaces where students can interact with three-dimensional renderings of physics phenomena and engage with each other and instructors in real time. The scope of this project involves (1) constructing three fundamental learning spaces: electric fields, magnetic fields, and electromagnetic waves, and (2) developing research-based theory regarding how virtual reality experiences can improve students’ learning gains. The spaces will include dynamic graphical elements relevant to the physics phenomenon, interaction tools to modify those phenomena, a live instructor who can assume a student’s perspective to see exactly what the student is viewing, and learning assessment measures. The students’ actions in these virtual environments and their learning gains will be studied in order to optimize the design and implementation of this novel approach. Access to the environment will be inclusive because it is platform-agnostic: while the instructor may use sophisticated tools, students can join with a tablet or smartphone. This will foster successful learning opportunities for all students, and particularly for underrepresented minorities and at-risk students. Findings will advance knowledge on embodied cognition in spatial computing learning environments by investigating the ways in which various composition elements and tasks engage students in deeper levels of visualization and conceptual understanding.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Matthew Anderson
CALong Beach2204529California State University-Long Beach FoundationADVANCE Adaptation: Innovating Faculty Workloads through an Equity Lens CCalifornia State University Long Beach (CSULB) intends to adapt and implement The Faculty Workload and Rewards Project from the University of Maryland (NSF ADVANCE 1463898). The University of Maryland project was designed to understand how inequities arise in workload at the department level and how to utilize data on these work practices to improve existing workload practices and develop policies that lead to greater equity. By addressing workload equity for non-tenure and tenure track faculty at CSULB, the project will address a significant national challenge shared by many other institutions of higher education. Within CSULB, non-tenure track faculty (full-time and part-time) have grown in numbers and collectively provide more than half of all instruction, while the number of tenure track faculty has been mostly static or declining. This work is designed to address issues related to work satisfaction and retention, tenure, and promotion raised by STEM faculty.


This adaptation project aims to advance the understanding of both the sources of inequity in workload among STEM faculty and the policies and practices that can increase equity and to provide tools that can be used to identify "invisible labor" and quantify "identity taxation." CSULB's unionized environment presents an opportunity to demonstrate that it is possible to bring about positive and practical changes on a topic subject to collective bargaining when local representatives of labor and management work collaboratively and in good faith. Depending on the success of the CSULB ADVANCE Adaptation project, it may become a model that could be used at any of the 22 other California State University (CSU) campuses. The CSU is the largest 4-year public university system in the United States, boasting 23 campuses in California and employing approximately 28,000 faculty. Results of the project will be distributed to two unique and important audiences. These are: (1)the CSU systemwide faculty and administrators via the CSU systemwide affinity groups and (2) the CSU statewide union, the California Faculty Association (CFA), which represents all faculty across the CSU.

The NSF ADVANCE program is designed to foster gender equity through a focus on the identification and elimination of organizational barriers that impede the full participation and advancement of diverse faculty in academic institutions. Organizational barriers that inhibit equity may exist in policies, processes, practices, and the organizational culture and climate. ADVANCE "Adaptation" awards provide support for the adaptation and adoption of evidence-based strategies to academic, non-profit institutions of higher education as well as non-academic, non-profit organizations.

This project was supported with co-funding from the HSI Program, which aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Karyn Scissum Gunn
CAMerced2207863University of California - MercedCentral Valley Region Interdisciplinary Science Education Research Symposium With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this conference seeks to serve the national interest by bringing together researchers, educators, students, and leaders throughout California’s Central Valley to offer an opportunity for significant interdisciplinary and cross-campus collaborations that will meet the needs of the undergraduate student population. Within this region there are more than 25 institutions of higher education, from community colleges to research universities, ranging in size from under 3,000 to more than 25,000 undergraduate students. All these institutions serve a student population that is highly diverse, historically underserved, and representative of America’s current and future demographics. The development of this symposium will be a cooperative effort between five of these Central Valley institutions (Fresno City College, Merced College, California State University (CSU) Stanislaus, CSU Fresno, and University of California (UC) Merced). Three of these institutions (CSU Stanislaus, CSU Fresno, and UC Merced) have received NSF Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (IUSE-HSI) Track 3 grants. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers from these grants have had few opportunities to share the important work that they have accomplished on these projects. Therefore, the goals of the symposium are to: (1) disseminate education research findings from the Central Valley community, investigate trends in education research, and identify future directions for education research and practice; (2) encourage and facilitate networking and new interdisciplinary research collaborations among faculty, staff, and students from Central Valley two-year and four-year institutions that results in rigorous research that addresses some of our nation’s most pressing education needs; and (3) provide a space for undergraduate and graduate students to discover and better understand the field of educational research and potential career pathways.

Given our desire for this symposium to become an annual event, it will be important to assess how well the symposium meets both the outcomes listed above and meets the needs and expectations of the participants. To assess the effectiveness of the symposium, we plan to collect participant demographics, pre- and post-surveys of participants’ expectations, and track long- term impact metrics and dissemination records. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs are supported by this program.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Erik Menke
CASacramento2215202University Enterprises, IncorporatedComparing student success, team dynamics, and cost in three different active learning formats in undergraduate physics education This project aims to serve the national interest by promoting student success in an introductory college physics course. This project plans to implement and compare three different active learning formats in physics teaching. All three formats are based on proven best practices known to improve student success. However, each format differs in how it incorporates team dynamics and student leadership in the classroom. Each format also differs in cost. By comparing student outcomes in the three formats, this project hopes to address how the incorporation of student leadership and teamwork could cost-effectively improve student success and learning in college physics class. This could advance knowledge about building a diverse and inclusive workforce, as well as broadening participation in STEM. The project has the potential significance of creating a low-cost model that can be implemented in undergraduate STEM classrooms broadly to promote student success and retention, while also developing students’ leadership capacity and teamwork skills, both highly valued workplace skills.

The overarching goal of this project is to develop, implement, and evaluate three active learning classroom formats in the context of introductory college physics. The project will compare three active learning formats, all of which vary in cost and use different active learning, student leadership, and teamwork elements. The three formats will be implemented in parallel over the course of four semesters and are distinguished by having: (a) no undergraduate student learning assistants in leadership roles, (b) paid undergraduate learning assistants who have previously completed the course in leadership roles, or (c) rotating peer leaders drawn from current students in the course. The project plans to assess the effectiveness of these three approaches across several dimensions, including cost, student retention and course completion rates, student performance on subject matter assessments, and surveys assessing student leadership capacity and attitudes. While active learning practices are generally known to improve student success and learning, the specific cost and efficacy of different modalities may vary and is not well understood. Situated in a Hispanic Serving Institution, this project hopes to provide insights about sustainable, low-cost active learning formats in undergraduate STEM education that could be broadly relevant. Also, the project should advance understanding of how implementing different approaches to student leadership roles into STEM courses might promote student success and retention, while also developing students’ leadership skills. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools. This project is also supported by the NSF IUSE: HSI program, which has the goals of enhancing the quality of undergraduate STEM education, and increasing the recruitment, retention, and graduation rates of students pursuing associate’s or baccalaureate degrees in STEM.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Eliza Morris
CAIrvine2215879University of California-IrvineCollaborative Research: Advancing Bayesian Thinking in STEM This project aims to serve the national interest by improving statistics instruction through a focus on increasing access to Bayesian methods. Dealing with the complexity of uncertainty is an important part of the scientific process. Like scientists, STEM students need to derive rigorous conclusions from data in their science practice. This project is based upon the premise that wider inclusion of Bayesian methods in STEM curricula can help students understand scientific uncertainty. To support the wider use of these methods, the project plans to build a community of STEM educators who can transform their courses by introducing new instructional materials for Bayesian methods. The project team intends to develop and offer a professional development program for STEM instructors from other institutions that focuses on the use and teaching of Bayesian methods. In addition, teams of instructors will be mentored by the project team in the development of instructional materials. The project will disseminate the instructional materials and project results to the science education community through social media, journal publications, and conference presentations.

This goal of this project is to make Bayesian methods as accessible as possible at the undergraduate level through a cross-disciplinary curricular instructor capacity-building program for different STEM fields. Through recruitment of a diverse body of STEM instructors, the project will: 1) Increase the number of undergraduate students who understand Bayesian methods; 2) Enhance the capacity of STEM instructors in Bayesian methods through training and community building; 3) Develop and enrich teaching and learning materials that showcase the use of Bayesian methods in STEM fields. To achieve these objectives, the three collaborating institutions, University of California Irvine, Vassar College, and Duke University, will offer a week-long instructor summer training boot camp. By the end of the boot camp, it is expected that instructor participants will be comfortable using Bayesian methods in answering scientific questions, using appropriate software for teaching Bayesian methods, and designing classroom activities and assessments that support the learning of Bayesian methods. Selected instructors from the boot camp will be mentored by the project team in the development of Bayesian teaching and learning materials, specifically using scientific data from their fields. Using surveys and learning assessments, the project will assess the effectiveness of the summer boot camp. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools. This project is also supported by the NSF IUSE:HSI program, which has the goals of enhancing the quality of undergraduate STEM education, and increasing the recruitment, retention, and graduation rates of students pursuing associate’s or baccalaureate degrees in STEM.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Mine Dogucu
CANorthridge2216486The University Corporation, NorthridgeEnhancing Access to STEM Careers by Facilitating Transitions from Course-based to Internship-based Undergraduate Research Experiences This project aims to serve the national interest by exploring a novel approach to supporting undergraduate biology students as they transition from course-based research experiences (CUREs) to internship-based research experiences. CUREs offer the advantage of involving many students in undergraduate research. However, mentored internships in faculty research laboratories provide more opportunities for students to engage with the scientific community. Since faculty research laboratories have limited capacity, internship-based research experiences are often constrained to small number of well-connected students. This project plans to explore a flexible, two-semester undergraduate research experience that aims to provide an inclusive, supportive transition to internship-based research while also expanding faculty research laboratory capacity to deliver high-quality, mentored student research experiences.

The goals of this project are multi-pronged, and project activities will be developed in the context of California State University Northridge, a Hispanic Serving Institution. First, the project will develop 2-semester courses that serve as a bridge between CUREs and internship-based research experiences within biology faculty laboratories. Additionally, the project aspires to introduce undergraduate biology students to a variety of research areas by incorporating short internships within the courses, as well as provide post-CURE supplemental mentoring through academic credit for students engaged in internship-based research experiences. Further, the project will conduct systematic assessment of this transitional undergraduate research experience, investigating its impact on student perceptions of research and career intentions and comparing this to outcomes from standard CUREs. This fully immersive research experience is a potential model for other campuses to increase the capacity of biology departments to involve more undergraduates in authentic research experiences. The assessment outcomes from the project have the potential to advance understanding of strategies that enhance student interest in and preparation for research-related careers. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools. This project is also supported by the NSF IUSE: HSI program, which has the goals of enhancing the quality of undergraduate STEM education, and increasing the recruitment, retention, and graduation rates of students pursuing associate’s or baccalaureate degrees in STEM.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Cheryl Van Buskirk
CAPomona2225128Cal Poly Pomona Foundation, Inc.Bridging Institutions to Decrease Gaps in Engineering Education With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Implementation and Evaluation (Track 2) project will decrease the gaps in engineering education for transfer students and increase their success by focusing on a “transfer-ready” curriculum with support from a faculty learning community. The State of California, which has the largest four-year public university system in the United States, does not have an Associate Degree for Transfer (ADT) in Engineering. Therefore, the majority of engineering students who transfer from community colleges do not take lower-division engineering courses. This prolongs the time needed to complete an engineering degree to an average of five-to-six years. At the California State Polytechnic University at Pomona (CPP), the two-year graduation rate for engineering transfer students in the Fall 2021 semester was 6.0%, which is much lower than the university average (33.1%). The additional years needed to graduate add to the financial burden for transfer students, as they must pay additional tuition and expenses. The "Bridging Institutions to Decrease Gaps in Engineering Education" team (or BRIDGE Education team) includes faculty at CPP and three partnering institutions, Mt. San Antonio College (Mt. SAC), Citrus College, and Victor Valley College who will collaborate on transfer student success in the Department of Civil Engineering and the Department of Mechanical Engineering at CPP. Because transfer students constitute a large percentage of students entering engineering programs, it is important to foster their success in obtaining baccalaureate degrees in a timely manner, which will prove a significant step in mitigating equity gaps among engineering students.

Three specific aims guide the execution of the project. First is to identify the critical success factors (CSFs) that impact transfer students’ success. Second is to create a framework to yield “transfer ready” students by implementing the Transfer Pathway program. Third and finally, is to offer more diverse lower-division engineering courses through course development and a faculty learning community (FLC). The BRIDGE project will minimize transfer students’ struggles and maximize their performance after transferring. In addition, the BRIDGE project can be developed and incorporated into other engineering disciplines and strengthen state-wide efforts to support transfer students’ success by offering an Associate Degree for Transfer (ADT) in Engineering. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Jeyoung Woo
CASan Bernadino2225178University Enterprises Corporation at CSUSBHSI Institutional Transformation Project: Retention and Achievement for Introductory STEM English Learners (RAISE) With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 3 Institutional Transformation Project (ITP) aims to improve retention in science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) programs with a language and culture-focused approach in introductory STEM courses, in which there are substantial bottlenecks to student retention in STEM disciplines nation-wide. All STEM students face challenges in discipline-specific academic language, which is defined as unique language used by practitioners to communicate in an academic discipline and is different from everyday usage of language. Academic language is also an added challenge to English learners. Language-conscious teaching is a culturally responsive way to support student success and is common in K-12 education but not in higher education. This work will contribute to understanding the role of academic language and language-centric pedagogy in STEM student success at the university level. The Nation’s demographics indicate that the number of multilingual and English learner students is ever-increasing, and preliminary inquiry suggests that English learners represent 15-30% of incoming freshmen. Thus, the broader impact of this project is that it will help develop a STEM workforce that reflects this diversity and leverages its multilingual assets. This will be essential for the United States to stay competitive in an increasingly multicultural world. Upon successful implementation of the project, the expected outcomes are: (1) student success and retention will improve in introductory STEM courses; (2) cultural and pedagogical shifts will occur among faculty to account for and celebrate the unique language skills of our students; (3) institutions will be more cognizant of supporting and planning for the success of English learners and multilingual students.

The specific aims of the project are to (1) establish a faculty and staff learning community around STEM academic language challenges and evidence-based interventions. The culture and contexts of the incoming class will be explored through partnerships with local high schools that are major feeder campuses to the university; (2) develop and implement best practices for collecting institutional data on English learners; (3) design and implement interventions targeting STEM academic language challenges. It is expected that some STEM-focused English learner interventions designed for K-12 programs can be effectively adapted and adopted for university-level introductory STEM courses to benefit all students, including English learners. Promising interventions will undergo more formal evaluation and investigation for efficacy; (4) research student and faculty engagement in STEM academic language. How students engage with STEM disciplinary language, what STEM faculty attitudes towards teaching and engaging in academic language are, and how those attitudes affect student learning will be examined. Results will be broadly disseminated through publication, professional organizations, and networks through the large California State University system. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Michael Chao
CALos Angeles2225187California State L A University Auxiliary Services Inc.Increasing Participation and Persistence in STEM by Incorporating Field-Based Experiences in an Urban Environment With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Implementation and Evaluation (Track 2) project aims to engage undergraduate students in field-based activities at two urban institutions: California State University Los Angeles and Mt. San Antonio College. These institutions are located in the greater Los Angeles area, and they serve a commuter-student population. Financial and logistical challenges have made it difficult to augment science courses with field-based activities, despite their documented benefits. The field-based activities will take place in lower-division biology, chemistry and earth science courses and are expected to increase participation and retention of minoritized students in these disciplines. Outcomes from this project should reduce barriers to participation in field-based activities by training instructors in safe field-based practices, and lowering costs associated with field activities.

The set of proposed activities will increase persistence rates across the four majors (Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Geology and Natural Sciences) at the two institutions due to the introduction of engaging field-course experiences that allow students to work in a group setting and connect to environmental issues in their local communities. This work will also increase fieldwork participation rates in the selected majors, which currently have low numbers of minoritized students at both campuses. This is critical to increasing representation, especially Latinx students, in the environmental workforce. Program success will be tracked through pre- and post-course surveys where new field-based activities are implemented. In addition, student and faculty focus groups will be used to assess outcomes at various levels as well as track any related institutional changes. The student population at both participating campuses includes a high proportion of Latinx and other students similarly underrepresented in their participation in STEM fields of study, which should broaden participation in the introductory courses of these majors. This project seeks to increase participation and persistence rates among minoritized students in field-based disciplines in which they are highly underrepresented, which should result in a more diverse workforce and an increase in minority role models for future students. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Rene Vellanoweth
CANorthridge2225203The University Corporation, NorthridgePromoting Student Engagement and Success through Assistive Technology With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-¬Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Pilot (Track 1) project aims to engage students at California State University Northridge in project-based learning centered on assistive technologies (ATs). Approximately 25% of adults in the United States live with a disability, and ATs play an important role accommodating people with disabilities in different environments, including in education, employment and independent living. Research has shown that people with disabilities from minority populations are less likely to have access to AT and are more likely to report unmet AT needs. Additionally, students are often unaware of the many rewarding career opportunities in this field. Through a new undergraduate senior design track this project will support students’ development of a strong professional identity and motivation to pursue a STEM career, particularly in careers at the human-technology frontier. Students will have multiple opportunities to learn from professionals in AT careers and will build empathy through several experiences designed to help them understand the realities, strengths, and challenges of disabled citizens. Faculty will engage in professional development throughout the project, which will allow them to incorporate project-based learning in their classrooms and enrich the experiences of their students.

Assistive technology is highly interdisciplinary and requires experience working with a team of professionals. The project provides student-centered, project-based, and personalized experiential learning and interdisciplinary-based professional development to improve the success of minority students in STEM. Specifically, this project will: 1) build a support system for underrepresented students in STEM; 2) provide an authentic learning experience through tailored activities; 3) increase institutional capacity to create a culturally-sensitive learning environment and interdisciplinary STEM curriculum; 4) forge connections between students and employers; and 5) advance students who are underrepresented in their participation in STEM toward higher levels of academic achievement. The project’s impact is broadened by involving service providers and industry representatives in education activities. Project evaluation will draw from surveys and focus groups to explore impacts on students and teachers, including how participation influences students’ sense of belonging, STEM identity, and technical knowledge. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Li Liu
CASan Bernardino2225206University Enterprises Corporation at CSUSBHSI Pilot Project: Improving Online STEM Education for Undergraduate Students at HSIs With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 pilot project aims to study online education across several disciplines at California State University, San Bernardino. Online education provides flexibility and access for students that may otherwise struggle to engage in a traditional in-person college experience. At the same time, understanding and strengthening online STEM education can be a challenge due to the variety of needs and practices across disciplines. The need to understand effective online education was magnified during the COVID-19 pandemic, which necessitated rapid, whole-institution moves to online courses. This project will explore online teaching and learning in four disciplines: biology, computer science and engineering, psychology, and information decision sciences, and will investigate and compare practices that specifically show potential to positively impact students in an HSI setting.

An overarching goal of the project is to focus on how best to serve a broad and diverse population of online learners. Four areas of online teaching practice will be investigated: lecture attributes, student practice strategies, online labs, and testing practices. In addition, the project will look at key, overlapping issues for students from groups traditionally underrepresented in STEM, low-income individuals, first-generation college students, and other groups. A key aim of the project is to understand how issues such as reduced online access, living conditions, and preference for structure and sense of community might impact student outcomes in online courses. Project research will use surveys, focus groups, and data from online classrooms to analyze practices in each of the four focal disciplines. Dissemination will focus on sharing both promising and potentially harmful educational practices (as cautions), as well as specific approaches that show promise to improve learning in each of the targeted disciplines or areas of online teaching practice. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs are supported by this program.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Ya Ni
CACarson2225210California State University-Dominguez Hills FoundationHSI Implementation and Evaluation Project: Improving Professional Preparedness in STEM With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 2: IEP aims to increase the number of students from California State University Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) who enter the STEM field after graduating. Multiple groups, including those who identify as Latinx, are underrepresented in STEM careers; while Latinx individuals comprise 17% of the working population, they are only 8% of STEM workers. CSUDH is poised to help close this gap because CSUDH serves a student population that is approximately 70% Latinx. Many STEM education initiatives have focused on increasing the graduation rates of STEM students, particularly those from historically marginalized groups. However, graduating with a STEM degree does not necessarily mean students will enter STEM fields for their careers. For example, currently, only 11% of students in the CSUDH Biology department graduate with a job offer or acceptance to graduate or professional school. To increase this number, the project will increase equitable access to and participation in internships, integrate career-focused content throughout the curriculum and add career development conversations to disciplinary-specific advising. Through these initiatives, students will develop a professional identity earlier in their academic careers and strengthen the skills needed to enter a STEM career after graduation. Ultimately, the project will increase the number of students from underrepresented groups entering STEM fields.

The immediate objective is to increase the professional preparedness of these students in order to increase their return on investment in college and to diversify the regional STEM workforce. The project will use a multi-faceted approach to help students better realize their professional goals by ensuring that more students engage deeply in internships and/or research opportunities, include more career and professional skill development in courses, implement inclusive advising, and increase participation in student clubs. It is hypothesized that how students think about their career pathways will affect whether they have concrete career plans when they graduate, student retention, and time to graduation. To test these hypotheses, the project will utilize mixed-model assessments and grounded theory to analyze data collected throughout students’ academic careers to understand how students form their career plans. This project will expand the metrics of student success to not only include persistence to a degree or transition to graduate school, but also to “path to career.” In doing so, the project will provide much-needed research on one understudied aspect of underrepresented minority groups in STEM: how students conceptualize their pathway to a career. More generally, the biology department will serve as an incubator for best practices in developing STEM career identity. Once it is better understood how students conceptualize their career pathways, and which interventions positively affect career-focused outcomes, the project results will be disseminated through on-campus forums and peer-reviewed journal articles, and conference presentations. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Karin Kram
CASanta Barbara2225238University of California-Santa BarbaraHSI Institutional Transformation Project: Center for Equitable Environmental Sciences With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 3 HSI Institutional Transformation Project (ITP): Center for Equitable Environmental Sciences (CEES), aims to improve retention of students from groups underrepresented in STEM majors. Both first-year and transfer students who share these identities disproportionately leave declared STEM majors without a meaningful internship experience. Maintaining students from diverse backgrounds in STEM majors is a key step to building the next generation of environmental leaders. By foregrounding the linkages between science and society, STEM faculty at UCSB and Santa Barbara City College (SBCC) will generate innovative approaches to STEM education and novel research questions about the societal implications of science and technology. Finally, CEES will disseminate STEM education best practices to HSI communities through publications and conference presentations.

This project will use the theme of environmental justice to facilitate the formation of intersectional STEM identities through a new Center for Equitable Environmental Sciences housed within the UCSB Chicano Studies Institute to provide mentoring, learning communities, and placement in STEM internships. Culturally relevant mentoring coupled with learning communities will enhance student experiences by fostering a greater sense of belonging within STEM majors. In collaboration with the Career Services Center, it will develop a new Environment and Society career track and a professional development program for UCSB and SBCC faculty that develops both pedagogical skills and interdisciplinary research projects that facilitate undergraduate internship opportunities in partnership with non-profit and government agencies. CEES will provide internship experiences anchored in principles of diversity, equity, inclusion and justice (DEIJ). Building on cluster hiring in racial environmental justice, this project aims to serve 1000 students through CEES, mentor 300 students, develop 300 internships, and train 75 faculty across two HSI campuses in professional development activities. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Dolores Inés Casillas
CASan Francisco2225241San Francisco State UniversityHSI Planning Project: Shifting perspectives about why women of color are underrepresented in biology: the role of intersectional identities With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 Planning Project aims to better understand the reasons women of color majoring in biology at San Francisco State University (SF State) leave their major. While women are well represented in the field of biology, women of color remain underrepresented. This underrepresentation both limits the career advancement of women of color in the life sciences, and the unrealized benefit to science by inclusion of their unique perspectives and skills in the biological sciences workforce. This planning project seeks to identify the barriers and facilitators for women of color in biology, using critical information gathered in this project. A smartphone application will be used to capture information about the day-to-day experiences of women in the biology department at SF State, who are highly diverse. Detailed information about these experiences will be gained by conducting informational interviews with a subset of the women of color who contributed information about their day-to-day experiences via the smartphone app. This planning project will help to elucidate the complexities encountered by women of color who hold intersectional identities in biology to develop an evidence-based interventions to further supports their valuable advancement in the life sciences.

The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims. This project achieves these overarching goals by generating new knowledge about the complexities experienced by undergraduate women of color in biology at SF State, an HSI. These experiences remain largely unidentified and have not been investigated using asset-based or intersectional lenses. These lenses will be used to analyze data about the microaffirmations and microaggressions experienced by undergraduate women of color in biology at SF State collected through use of the MA2 smartphone application. Responses from 600 participants will be collected to document quantitative and qualitative results. To validate the qualitative results, 20 informational interviews will be conducted (i.e., respondent validation) to better understand the factors (behaviors, norms, values, social environment) that facilitate persistence in biology for women of color. This new knowledge will be used to design an asset-based intervention that improves persistence of women of color having intersectional identities in the life sciences. Overall, the funded planning project will provide women of color with the opportunity to share their experiences in biology from their own perspective to authentically inform an intervention focused on faculty development and improved pedagogical practice that is culturally-responsive. Dissemination of the findings will contribute to efforts at institutions across the country to enable the persistence women.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Leticia Marquez-Magana
CANorthridge2225248The University Corporation, NorthridgeHSI Institutional Transformation Project: Creating Opportunities for Minoritized Students to Participate in Faculty Mentored Research With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program, this Track 3 Institutional Transformation Project (ITP) aims to establish the evidence- and equity-based research training hub ESTUDIO: Excellence in Student Training for Undergraduates, Diversity Initiative Office at the California State University, Northridge (CSUN). ESTUDIO – which means “a study” or “research” in Spanish – will allow CSUN to scale the high-impact practice (HIP) of undergraduate research and create opportunities for students to engage in this HIP, while also centering mentoring as part of faculty life and bolster capacity and professional development for mentors. The evidence is unequivocal that undergraduate research under competent mentorship can support the success of all students and significantly diminish or eliminate equity gaps in STEM. This study aims to combine decades-long experience with HIPs and evidence in the literature to create ESTUDIO as a permanent and sustainable campus-wide entity that serves the CSUN STEM community of ~6,000 minoritized students and 500 faculty. By expanding, deploying, and testing an asynchronous and synchronous infrastructure of evidence-based training modules and certificates rooted in an equitable theoretical foundation, this project aims to reach a large community of practitioners, close pervasive and persistent equity gaps, build equitable mentorship capacity, and disseminate content and models to appropriately scale and duplicate these efforts at other HSIs.

The specific aims are to: 1) scale the HIP of research for all undergraduate STEM students; 2) promote and center equity-based mentorship in faculty retention and tenure; 3) using a theoretical construct, create new knowledge and models that can be adopted by HSIs of varying sizes and means. This project aims to co-create ESTUDIO at CSUN as a campus-wide entity and expand (to ~80) thoroughly tested and efficacious synchronous (in-person, online, and hybrid) undergraduate STEM training modules and to create equity-based and relevant certificate programs for CSUN students and faculty mentors. Approximately 40% of modules and certificates will be converted to an online, adaptive, and asynchronous modality to reach a broad audience and allow for appropriate dissemination. This work will involve support for research projects conducted by four faculty fellows who are emerging STEM and STEM education scholars at CSUN. Together, the investigators and faculty fellows will also study institutional level program implementation processes and metrics to determine: 1) the required minimum viable version of ESTUDIO with most impact and transportability; 2) effective approaches to reducing the gap between faculty expectations and students needs; and 3) the path to creating student-centered and mentorship-aligned retention and promotion criteria. The broader impact of this work is to catalyze a cultural shift at CSUN that will serve as a model for other HSIs, including several HSI campuses in the CSU system, serving over 500,000 students. This aligns with NSFs HSI Program, which aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Gabriela Chavira
CARohnert Park2225729Sonoma State UniversityEngaging Community Colleges Students through a Residential, Pre-transfer Summer Research Program With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 project aims to develop a collaboration between Sonoma State University (SSU), a four-year primarily undergraduate institution, and two community colleges, Mendocino College and Santa Rosa Junior College, to engage community college students in research experiences at SSU prior to applying for transfer. Transfer students can face a number of challenges as they move to 4-year institutions, which can hinder success in STEM disciplines. The project will bring two cohorts of ten community college students each year for a five-week residential research experience. Participants will also take part in professional and social activities to build a strong cohort and promote students’ sense of belonging. Existing connections between the Mathematics, Science, and Engineering Achievement (MESA) programs at all three institutions will allow the project to recruit diverse participants, including first generation students and students from populations that have been historically underrepresented in STEM.

Community colleges generally serve more diverse populations than 4-year institutions, yet at many institutions nationwide, students from minority populations often transfer at lower rates than their peers. Undergraduate research is a high-impact practice that has been shown to provide a rich, engaging experience for students that can drive greater equity in student retention and overall success. This project will generate new knowledge by exploring how a 5-week, pre-transfer research experience that includes cohort building activities impacts the sense of belonging and STEM self-efficacy of community college students. The project will also collect data on how the project model contributes to students’ later decision to transfer and pursue a 4-year degree. The core project model will be disseminated to communities of interest as an example of how 2- and 4-year institutions can collaborate to increase student engagement and persistence in STEM. Project evaluation will use student and faculty data to assess the effectiveness and implementation of project components while examining the scalability of the project model with an eye towards future expansion. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity, more generally, at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Thomas Targett
CAChico2227975Chico State EnterprisesORE-CZ: Ecohydrological Controls on Soil Respiration and the Apparent Respiratory Quotient Across a Dynamic Storage Gradient Soils contain more carbon than vegetation and the atmosphere combined, and soil respiration describes the transfer of soil carbon to the atmosphere via plant roots and microbes. As air temperatures rise and water availability changes, changes in the soil respiration flux represent significant potential feedback to the greenhouse effect and the magnitude of future warming. Accordingly, this project will take advantage of soil carbon dioxide (CO2) and oxygen data provided by the NSF-funded Dynamic Water Critical Zone (CZ) Thematic Cluster to quantify the variability of soil respiration and the fate of soil-produced CO2 with respect to changes in soil development, vegetation, and topography that mediate water availability across representative semi-arid montane elevation and climatic gradients. The research will support career training and learning experiences for graduate and undergraduate students at California State University, Chico, which is a federally designated Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI), a Primarily Undergraduate Institution, and where more than 50% of the student population are first generation college students.

A “bedrock to treetop” CZ approach considers feedbacks between soil, water, landscape position, and living organisms at Earth’s surface. Dynamic water storage - water with intermediate residence times - sustains CZ function between precipitation events, and is critically important to soil respiration and carbon cycling. As a result, the main objective of this research is to quantify the importance of dynamic water storage to the integral CZ functions of soil respiration and the Apparent Respiratory Quotient (ARQ) that determines the degree to which soil-produced CO2 is respired directly to the atmosphere versus transported laterally or vertically with infiltrating water. The investigators will specifically test the hypotheses that (1) soil respiration and the ARQ will be proportional to the volume of dynamic water storage in the root zone, and (2) that dynamic water storage capacity will interact with complex terrain to determine the variability of soil respiration and ARQ over space and time. Because research activities will be replicated and integrated across multiple watersheds, they will allow for evaluation of the transferability of process-based information, toward a more comprehensive understanding of CZ carbon cycling with direct implications for the climate change mitigation potential of semi-arid montane ecosystems.

This project was supported with co-funding of the HSI Program which aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
John Knowles
CAIrvine2228202University of California-IrvinePathway to STEM Success: Improving Access and Success and Closing Equity Gaps in College-level Math in a State Community College System This project aims to serve the national interest by increasing the success rates of community college students in gateway mathematics courses and contributing to the knowledge base on effective practices which support that success. Recognizing the limitations of current developmental education approaches to fostering student success in mathematics, the research and practice partnership (RPP) team of researchers and practitioners from the University of California – Irvine, the Virginia Community College System (VCCS), and the University of Delaware plan to investigate a VCCS initiative designed to reform the support to students who come from high schools that did not prepare them adequately for college. While current reforms focus on one element of developmental education, the RPP effort under study is implementing a more comprehensive approach to support these students as they progress through gateway mathematics. The VCCS initiative includes three components, identifying students who need support, providing concurrent academic support through co-requisite coursework, and providing proactive advising and coaching.

Three studies will examine the effects of this effort: (1) a Reform Implementation Study to document how the reform is implemented at each institution and challenges encountered; (2) a Reform Impact Study to examine the impact of the reform on student gateway math outcomes, as well as downstream STEM pathway success and distal outcomes including degree attainment and labor market performance; and (3) a Math Instruction Study to explore whether specific ways of delivering the co-requisite support and teaching approaches are associated with better student outcomes and smaller racial gaps in gateway mathematics. The RPP also plans to examine how colleges responded to challenges presented by the ongoing COVID pandemic when implementing the reform, whether these changes will persist into the foreseeable future, and what teaching practices are effective in promoting math success by course delivery format. The mixed methods research design is well aligned with project goals, research methodologies, and analyses. The RPP team will collect data through surveys, targeted interviews, and administrative data ans plans to apply a comprehensive developmental education framework to analyze and interpret the data. The results will be used to inform the Direct Enrollment Reform at VCCS and should generate knowledge that other institutions may use to inform their efforts to improve student success, particularly when entry into and completion of gateway mathematics courses pose challenges. The NSF program description on Advancing Innovation and Impact in Undergraduate STEM Education at Two-year Institutions of Higher Education supports projects that advance STEM education initiatives at two-year colleges. The program description promotes innovative and evidence-based practices in undergraduate STEM education at two-year colleges. This project is also supported b the NSF IUSE-HSI program, which has the goals of enhancing the quality of undergraduate STEM education, and increasing the recruitment, retention, and graduation rates of students pursuing associate’s or baccalaureate degrees in STEM.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Di Xu
CASanta Monica2231669Santa Monica CollegeConference: The State of Equitable STEM Pedagogy at California Community Colleges With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this conference proposal aims to host a one-day regional conference by Santa Monica College titled “The State of Equitable STEM Pedagogy at California Community Colleges” where participants will share models of equitable teaching practices within STEM courses at California community colleges and HSIs. While much educational equity research has focused on the experiences of students at four-year institutions, additional research is needed on the experiences of community college students. This is a relevant area for research given that proportionally more Hispanic/LatinX and Black/African American students begin their academic careers in higher education at community colleges; and within the California community college demographics 46.04% of the student population are Hispanic/Latinx students while their success and completion rates are lower than peers, specifically in STEM education. This conference will contribute to a richer body of knowledge around effective equity practices at community colleges and HSIs and will establish a platform for greater collaboration among STEM faculty at California community colleges. This conference will highlight key research findings from various initiatives already underway at Santa Monica College, including the NSF-funded grant Fostering an Equity Minded Student Success Culture in STEM, the California Board of Trustee’s math initiative, the SMC Equitizing Gateway Courses initiative, and the redesign of Student Services around the student experience. It will also showcase STEM equity-focused initiatives from other California community colleges and will allow STEM equity practitioners to gain knowledge and insight on how to best serve our Black and Latinx students in STEM to help close racial equity gaps. This conference will help build a broader network of equity practitioners among STEM faculty at California Community Colleges.

Through a combination of online presentations and workshops, participants will be exposed to high-impact equitable teaching practices designed to close academic achievement gaps often experienced by Black and Latinx students in STEM courses, including how intersectional identities often amplify existing equity gaps. The goal of the conference will be to highlight how the unique goals, strengths, challenges, and experiences of community college students require intentional approaches to pedagogical practices designed around closing educational equity gaps. This conference will consist of concurrent presentations and workshops, along with a keynote speaker that will allow presenters and participants to share their knowledge and experiences with equitable pedagogical practices in STEM. Workshops will be organized around the following themes: sense of belonging, intrusive advising, early alert systems, asset-based approaches, and student services. A conference-specific Canvas course will be used to share resources and foster discussion among participants. Conference presentations and materials will be made widely available in a publicly accessible archive. An external evaluator will survey conference participants to measure their understanding of the conference sessions, as well as their likelihood to promote, develop and improve their own teaching practices with an equity-minded focus.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Ciaran Brewster
CASan Jose2243836San Jose State University FoundationInteragency Personnel AwardJulio Soto
CAPomona2311797Cal Poly Pomona Foundation, Inc.Cross-Sector Partnerships, Experiential Learning, and Professional Development to Build Pathways to STEM Careers With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program, this Track 1: Building Capacity project aims to improve STEM education and broaden participation in STEM. It intends to do so through a collaborative, cross-sector partnership model that will provide students and faculty with year-round, extra-curricular, STEM-related experiences. It is expected that these experiences will help increase the number of students who are retained in and successfully complete STEM degrees at HSI institutions. One of the unique features of this program is that faculty will be embedded with students during the extracurricular experiences. As a result, faculty will connect with professionals working at the forefront of their disciplines and be able to use their experiences to improve their teaching. The program is also expected to help increase the number and quality of cross-sector collaborations.

The project team has already created partnerships with corporate, non-profit, and government organizations. The primary partners are Packet, MillerCoors Brewing, CSU Fullerton, Gravitational Waves Physics & Astronomy, City of Hope, The Explainables, The Right Question Institute, and the Blue Marble Space Institute of Science. These organizations will provide students with experiences that range from workshops and demonstrations to coding boot camps and summer research internships. The project intends to serve 300 students, who will participate in one of three themed cohorts: 1. Geosciences; 2. Engineering, Physics, Mathematics & Computer Sciences; and 3. Biology and Chemistry. It is expected that participation in the cohort will broaden students’ understanding of career opportunities, introduce them to subfields within their disciplines, and provide internships or research opportunities, while building durable networks with peers and professionals. The research and evaluation components of the project will contribute to the literature regarding science identity. It is expected that this work may serve as a model for increasing the diversity of the STEM workforce. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Winny Dong
COPueblo1832243Pueblo Community CollegeHSIs New to NSF: Los Futuros de STEM (STEM Futures): Building Student Success in STEM The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program) aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI program will also generate new knowledge about how to achieve these aims. This project fulfills part of those aims by building capacity at Pueblo Community College to meet the needs of low-income students in the STEM pipeline. The project will create a STEM professional development program, enhance student supports, and develop co-requisite supplemental instruction. It is expected that these capacity building efforts will increase student enrollment and graduation rates in STEM programs at Pueblo Community College. This project will also engage students in STEM careers through partnerships with local industry so that students can build a future in STEM.

The project will develop the Pueblo Community College educational experience that includes campus outreach, targeted recruitment, curricular redesign, close advising, academic alerts, and faculty/staff professional development. The goal of the project is to increase STEM student success, including enrollment, performance, persistence, graduation, and the transfer to four-year STEM degree programs. Students will receive faculty mentoring to improve self-efficacy and scientific literacy. Learning will be enhanced via the creation of unique supplemental instruction courses to improve academic performance, self-efficacy, and persistence. The supplemental instruction structure will be developed for mathematics, biology, and physical sciences course often taken by first-semester students. The supplemental instruction in science courses will include interactions with STEM faculty mentors, student peer mentors, and industry partners to further connect the course content to STEM programs and careers. This project will investigate how to develop effective personal, curriculum, and academic supports that promote student enrollment and persistence in STEM majors. By collecting both quantitative and qualitative data, the project will generate new knowledge about factors that stimulate student success in STEM at the community college level.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Nicholas Alfonso
COAlamosa1928405Adams State University"Enhancing STEM Student Success by Connecting Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences to the Local Ecology and Community" Abstract for 1928405

With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 project aims to transform STEM courses by engaging students as researchers. Specifically, the students will do research to determine the impacts of grazing on local, rural, public lands. The project seeks to transform first- and second-year STEM courses, including biology, chemistry, geosciences, and statistics by adding hands-on research projects into the course curricula. Such research experiences are often called ?course-based undergraduate research experiences,? or CUREs. To enhance the project?s relevance to the community, representatives from the Sangre de Cristo National Heritage Area will collaborate with the project by engaging with the faculty and the students. Through this engagement, the project will bring the heritage and traditional land use practices of the San Luis Valley into the STEM courses. By connecting STEM with the local area, training faculty in culturally responsive teaching, and developing student led peer-mentoring, this project seeks to enhance student engagement, which is known to increase persistence, retention, and graduation rates in STEM.

The project will develop place-based CUREs by engaging students as researchers in an apprenticeship model. The CURES will examine the ecological impacts of grazing on public lands to enhance the student experience and motivation in STEM. The project will provide faculty development in culturally relevant teaching practices as well as coaching for peer-mentors to help build students? sense of belonging and efficacy in STEM via an asset-based approach. The project will investigate: 1) the effectiveness of an apprenticeship model of place-based CUREs at a rural Hispanic-serving Institution; and 2) the impacts of peer-mentoring and culturally responsive teaching practices. Located at the center of a geographically and culturally distinct region designated as the Sangre de Cristo National Heritage Area, the project will engage with local non-profit agencies, governmental representatives, and community members whose families have lived on the land for generations. Connecting STEM content with the local area may enhance student motivation in STEM as well as broaden awareness of the local heritage among students and faculty. The project's quasi-experimental study includes analyzing longitudinal data in enrollment, pass rates, retention, and degree completion, as well as psychological factors, across comparison groups in STEM disciplines. The project will share new knowledge of effective strategies on developing place-based CUREs in a culturally responsive teaching environment through presentations at regional and national conferences. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these goals.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Benita Brink
COPueblo1952896Pueblo Community CollegeDeveloping a Technology, Cyber Security, and Culturally Inclusive Pathway to Increase Student Participation and Persistence in STEM With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program, this Track 1 project aims to use technology and cybersecurity as catalysts to increase the STEM graduation rate, particularly of Hispanic and other underrepresented student groups. The project seeks to develop a seamless pathway from high school to two-year institutions, and then to a four-year institution. This pathway includes alignment of STEM curricula to enhance the transition from an associate degree to bachelor's degrees in STEM, with a focus on cybersecurity. The project aims to increase student enrollment and engagement in STEM coursework at two-year institutions, improve the transition from lower- to upper-division coursework, and develop culturally based educational and support practices that contribute to student success.

By developing a transition pathway in technology and cybersecurity, the project seeks to increase the enrollment, retention, and graduation rates of STEM students, particularly of Hispanic students and students from other groups that are underrepresented in STEM fields. To enhance their engagement in STEM, students will participate in the National Cyber League boot camp training and cybersecurity competitions. The project will facilitate professional development in cultural responsibility and sensitivity for teachers, advisors, coaches, and administrators at participating high schools, community colleges, and universities. The project will use quantitative and qualitative metrics to investigate how the project activities impact student enrollment and graduation rates in STEM, with emphasis on technology and cybersecurity programs. Data from this research project will be analyzed using structured equation modeling methodology to reveal significant path coefficients and goodness-of-fit model indices for both the community college and university research models. The project aims to develop a model that may be implemented at other institutions seeking to develop associate-to-bachelor degree pathways. Results and findings will be shared via conference presentations and academic journal publications. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Robert Krakow
COPueblo1953699Colorado State University-PuebloDeveloping a Technology, Cyber Security, and Culturally Inclusive Pathway to Increase Student Participation and Persistence in STEM With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program, this Track 1 project aims to use technology and cybersecurity as catalysts to increase the STEM graduation rate, particularly of Hispanic and other underrepresented student groups. The project seeks to develop a seamless pathway from high school to two-year institutions, and then to a four-year institution. This pathway includes alignment of STEM curricula to enhance the transition from an associate degree to bachelor's degrees in STEM, with a focus on cybersecurity. The project aims to increase student enrollment and engagement in STEM coursework at two-year institutions, improve the transition from lower- to upper-division coursework, and develop culturally based educational and support practices that contribute to student success.

By developing a transition pathway in technology and cybersecurity, the project seeks to increase the enrollment, retention, and graduation rates of STEM students, particularly of Hispanic students and students from other groups that are underrepresented in STEM fields. To enhance their engagement in STEM, students will participate in the National Cyber League boot camp training and cybersecurity competitions. The project will facilitate professional development in cultural responsibility and sensitivity for teachers, advisors, coaches, and administrators at participating high schools, community colleges, and universities. The project will use quantitative and qualitative metrics to investigate how the project activities impact student enrollment and graduation rates in STEM, with emphasis on technology and cybersecurity programs. Data from this research project will be analyzed using structured equation modeling methodology to reveal significant path coefficients and goodness-of-fit model indices for both the community college and university research models. The project aims to develop a model that may be implemented at other institutions seeking to develop associate-to-bachelor degree pathways. Results and findings will be shared via conference presentations and academic journal publications. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Roberto Mejias
COPueblo2122717Colorado State University-PuebloHSI Implementation and Evaluation Project: Creating Connected College Research Communities With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 2: IEP will integrate curricular, co-curricular, and programmatic activities to enhance the quality of undergraduate STEM education and to increase the recruitment, retention, and graduation rates of students pursuing associates or baccalaureate degrees in STEM for large numbers of Hispanic, rural, and low-income students at Colorado State University-Pueblo (CSU Pueblo) and regional community colleges. The curricular activities consisting of redesigned coursework with a focus towards increased access and inclusion will be integrated to the co-curricular activities involving undergraduate research opportunities, mentorship, and student services, and the programmatic activities consisting of professional development, scientific literacy, community engagement, and bridges to BS degrees.

This project utilizes undergraduate research as a pathway and catalyst for increasing the number of Hispanic/Latino, rural, and underrepresented student groups receiving degrees in STEM fields. Through a unique triad of partnerships with regional community colleges, high schools, and CSU Pueblo which serve underrepresented minorities in Southern Colorado and bordering states, this project will build around shared research projects to recruit, retain, and graduate students into STEM fields. It integrates a streamlined and innovative pathway towards STEM fields of study, particularly in biology and wildlife and resource management, via exciting experiential learning experiences within a culturally sensitive learning environment. This undergraduate research will create communities that provide intensive mentorship, student support, and a sense of belonging to transition students from secondary education to undergraduate education in STEM degree-granting programs.

This project aims to improve : 1) Recruitment – by harnessing students’ inherent interest in biological and wildlife regional issues/problems and recruit them into research projects; 2) Retention - through intense mentorship and community research teams which provide students wrap around services and support; 3) Mentoring & Coaching – via faculty research mentors and coaches at CSU Pueblo and Central Community College fostering students’ presentations, publications, and attendance at national meetings; and 4) Partnerships - with high schools to provide concurrent enrollment offerings and with Central Community College to provide seamless transfer articulation agreements and develop programs to prepare students for immediate and smooth transition into the BS degree programs in Biology and/or Wildlife and Natural Resources at CSU Pueblo. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Franziska Sandmeier
CODenver2122929Metropolitan State University of DenverHSI Pilot Project: Learning Assistant Transfer Pathway: Fostering STEM Connections With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 project aims to use the established and successful Learning Assistant program at Metropolitan State University of Denver (MSU Denver) to promote transfer pathways between a two and four-year institution (Community College of Denver (CCD) and MSU Denver respectively), improve overall STEM classroom instruction, and increase retention and success of STEM students. Resulting research on sense of belonging, transfer rates, participation, and learning outcomes for all participants but particularly those of underrepresented students will help to shape the ways institutions can move forward to support communities of learners between institutions. The use of Learning Assistants (LAs) as near-peer mentors and role models helps students to feel included in the class, content, discipline, and the institution. With the 2- to 4-year transfer aspiration to attainment gap reported nationally at 77.9% (aspiration) versus 10.2% (attainment) in STEM (Wang, 2020) and that students underrepresented in STEM fields demonstrate much greater success in supportive cohort models (Maton, 2000; Morrell, 2003; NCTM, 2014; Semken, 2008; Slovacek, 2012), this unique, cross-institutional community-building project is designed to extend the feelings of inclusion, connection, and belonging to the transfer experience. The shared LA experience naturally creates a stronger transfer pathway through collaboration and community between and within the LA cohorts, students in the classrooms, faculty, and STEM departments. The sustained contact with near-peer undergraduates as role models and mentors serves to increase the sense of belonging and inclusion in STEM teaching and learning and create a pathway for success.

The overall goal of the program is to improve participation, retention, and transfer in STEM programs by: 1) Fostering a successful Transfer Pathway from the 2-year institution to the 4-year institution using the Learning Assistant Program and 2) Improving student sense of STEM belonging. The shared LA Transfer Pathway will examine through surveys and interviews the effects of specific cross-institutional shared LAs who will not only provide important content and social support but give transfer interested students near-peer allies and mentors familiar with the transfer process. As a result, we expect increased, retention, participation, student success, and sense of belonging at both institutions as well as in increased number of successful transfers from the 2- to 4-year institutions. Project results and lessons learned will be shared throughout the institutions and to key stakeholders. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Manuel Del Real
CODenver2150045Metropolitan State University of DenverHSI Implementation and Evaluation Project: Building STEM identity to improve persistence, graduation and progression into STEM careers for diverse students With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Implementation and Evaluation project aims to build the STEM identity of minority students and positively impact their recruitment, persistence, graduation, and progression into STEM careers and/or graduate programs. Despite significant public and private investment, minority students are underrepresented in STEM fields. Research shows a positive, strong, and resilient STEM identity can translate into greater success for minority students. This project, Building Identity Leading to Diversity (BUILD), will strive to bolster minority students' STEM identity through reframing student mathematics experiences to reduce math anxiety, increasing participation in research by creating equitable opportunities, and creating a welcoming and inclusive community. BUILD plans to demonstrate that its comprehensive approach to building STEM identity will lead to persistence, achievement and attainment in STEM classes and degrees as well as improve the overall culture for underrepresented minority STEM students at Metropolitan State University of Denver (MSU Denver), resulting in a more diverse and prepared STEM workforce.

Specific aims of the BUILD project are to build STEM identity translating to readiness for STEM studies in college, graduate programs and STEM careers; increase the number of underrepresented minority students in STEM majors and improve their graduation rate; increase the number of underrepresented minority students in STEM careers; and build wide-ranging community, campus, and industry partnerships to ensure the sustainability of this effort. A primary BUILD research question: Do activities and comprehensive student services developing STEM identity correlate to broader participation and improve educational metrics in underrepresented minority students as they pursue careers and graduate programs in STEM? A mixed methodology evaluation process will be used to study how BUILD activities and resources contribute to underrepresented minority students’ STEM identity. Lessons learned will be applied to existing projects, specifically middle and high school pathway programs offered through MSU Denver and shared with STEM faculty, advisors within MSU Denver as well as other institutions, expanding BUILD’s impact. Project results that contribute to the knowledge base about math anxiety, high impact practices and STEM identity will be disseminated through publications, conference presentations, BUILD website, social media and other digital platforms. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Hsiu-Ping Liu
CTBridgeport2150048The New University of Bridgeport, Inc.HSI Pilot Project: Fostering Hispanic Achievement in Computer Science and Engineering with Affinity Research Group Model (Project Achieve) With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1: Planning and Pilot Program grant aims to increase student retention/persistence and preparedness in Computer, Electrical, Mechanical Engineering, and Computer Science (CS) majors, thereby increasing their degree attainment at the University of Bridgeport. Additionally, along with faculty development, the grant aims to enhance undergraduate CS and engineering teaching strategies that will lead to students’ higher degree completion rates. Barriers, like financial hardships and lack of research mentorship, for low-income, first-generation, and minority students prevent them from completing baccalaureate degrees in STEM disciplines. Further, cultural and academic barriers can lower self-efficacy and self-identity as a scientist and engineer when they participate in research experiences. Project ACHIEVE will implement the Affinity Research Group Model from the Computing Alliance for Hispanic-Serving Institutions (CAHSI) through an engaging undergraduate research course, Introduction to Scientific Research Challenges. This course will offer an opportunity to participate in research experiences with faculty and graduate students in Computer Science, Computer, Electrical, and Mechanical Engineering programs.

The overarching goal of this Track 1 PPP project is to implement, evaluate, and produce preliminary knowledge on evidence-based methods to overcome significant barriers to entry and persistence among students in undergraduate engineering and computer science degree programs. The project will adapt the Affinity Research Group Model, a set of practices built on a cooperative team framework to support the creation and maintenance of dynamic and inclusive research groups. It will pilot an intervention to mitigate known barriers to maintaining engagement in and completing STEM majors, focusing on students’ acquisition of career-related skills, connectedness to professionals, and building their confidence to complete an intellectually demanding course of study. It will address the research questions as follows. (1) How does the Affinity Research Group Model play a role in increasing students’ persistence in engineering and computer science majors during their first two years of study? (2) How does the model play a role in increasing students’ engineering self-efficacy during their first two years of study? (3) What are the approaches used by the faculty when implementing the model that leads to the development of students’ research skills (laboratory research skills followed by publication) – a community of practice, engagement with students outside the classroom, etc.? This project will inform the next phase of implementation, which will generate data useful for replication, adaptation, and increased knowledge about increasing student representation in engineering and computer science majors and associated STEM careers. It will also develop a community of practice for faculty to apply the model for other underrepresented undergraduates in STEM.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Buket Barkana
DCWashington1930047American Association for the Advancement of SciencePreparing Diverse STEM Researchers to Address Global Challenges In its strong commitment to broaden the participation of students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields from groups underrepresented in those disciplines, the National Science Foundation (NSF) provides funding for conferences and workshops. To this end, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) will hold the Emerging Researchers National (ERN) Conferences in STEM in 2020, 2021 and 2022 with the theme of "Preparing Diverse STEM Researchers to Address Global Challenges." The conferences will include undergraduate and graduate students from the following programs at the NSF: Historically Black Colleges and Universities - Undergraduate Program, Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation, Centers of Research Excellence in Science and Technology, Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate, Tribal Colleges and Universities Program, Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program, and Research Experiences for Undergraduates. However, any student wishing to participate in the conference, is encouraged to apply. Estimated annual conference participation is 1,100; including 750 students and 350 faculty and administrators. This conference, unlike those of most other professional societies, allows for presentations in all NSF supported disciplines, as well as presentations in interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary areas of study.

This project seeks to: provide opportunities to enhance students' sense of community and belonging in STEM; provide students with science communication and other professional skills for STEM workforce success; and disseminate resources and best practices to support student researchers and faculty. The three-day conference will include undergraduate and graduate student posters and oral presentations; plenary sessions that feature STEM professionals discussing their educational and career pathways and lessons learned about navigating a career in the STEM workforce; workshops focused on strategies for applying for and succeeding in graduate programs and finding funding for graduate school; and career preparation workshops. The project will include community building, professional development, and dissemination activities in three areas of engagement to provide students opportunities to build networks, connections and relationships within specific STEM education and research contexts to enhance their academic and social capital in STEM. The first pillar will support the community and foster a sense of belonging in STEM and includes in-person networking, exposure to STEM role models, and exposure to professional STEM contacts. The second pillar focuses on professional development and includes e-mentoring, STEM career and presentation skills webinars, and skills development sessions during the ERN conference. The third pillar, dissemination, uses the ERN website to share and promote resources, opportunities and best practices related to supporting student researchers and faculty. The project is guided by formative and summative evaluation; as well by an advisory board. The evaluation plan includes research questions designed to build knowledge in how these conferences contribute to students' efficacy in STEM.

The project is co-funded by programs in the Directorates of Biological Sciences, Computer and Information Science & Engineering, Education and Human Resources, Engineering, Geosciences, and Mathematical and Physical Sciences. Major funding contributions come from the following programs in the Division of Human Resource Development: Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate, Centers of Research Excellence in Science and Technology, Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation, and Historically Black Colleges and Universities-Undergraduate Program.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Iris Wagstaff
DCWashington1938982American Association for the Advancement of ScienceAAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellowships 2019-2022 The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) will continue its collaboration in providing to early- and mid-career scientists and engineers experiential professional development and public service fellowships via the AAAS Science and Technology Fellowship (STPF) Program. The STPF program objectives are to: a) educate scientists and engineers on the intricacies of federal policy making; b) provide information and analyses that support decision makers confronting challenges that involve scientific and technological issues; c) empower civic engagement and leadership by scientists and engineers by enhancing their skills to assess, communicate and apply science and technology in policy contexts; and d) increase the involvement and visibility of scientists and engineers in the policy realm and foster positive exchange between scientific professionals, policymakers and regulators. In the long-term, the STPF program seeks build science and engineering leadership capacity to support evidence-based policy and practice by developing policy-savvy scientists and engineers who understand government and policy making well-trained to develop solutions to the nation's challenges.

Fellows are selected by the AAAS annually through a highly-competitive process and placed for one-year fellowships in offices throughout the NSF. Under the guidance of mentors, Fellows work on projects of mutual interest to the Fellow and the host office. Fellowship activities allow the Fellows to gain insight into how national science and technology policy goals are translated into programs at NSF that reflect the agency's mission. The AAAS provides an orientation on executive branch and congressional operations, as well as knowledge- and skill-building professional development seminars throughout the year. The AAAS also conducts extensive outreach for recruitment, including scientists and engineers from traditionally underrepresented populations; administers a rigorous merit review process to identify finalists; matches fellows with host offices; and provides support for the fellows throughout their fellowships.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Rashada Alexander
DCWashington2218973Association of American Colleges and Universities“Puerto Rican Higher Education Researchers Association, Thriving not just Surviving (HEARTS) conference With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this conference aims to support faculty in Puerto Rico so that they can impact the retention and graduation rates of Hispanic students through implementing best practices and improving faculty wellness, resulting in improved student/faculty engagement and faculty grant-writing skills. Puerto Rican faculty are in urgent need of physical, emotional, pedagogical, and financial support so that they can refresh, rejuvenate, and adapt to transition from surviving to thriving in this pandemic-fueled “new normal.” The Puerto Rican Higher Education Researchers Association, Thriving not just Surviving (HEARTS) Conference will provide this support for faculty to heal, learn, share and grow to better support Hispanic STEM students and the HSIs of Puerto Rico. The conference will bring together faculty in higher education research programs from across the island. The conference will address topics of wellness, grant-writing support, best practices for virtual and/or hybrid learning (especially in STEM) and culturally competent pedagogy. These four topics, combined into one event, will offer holistic support for the faculty that are on the frontlines of the implementation of education research programming that seeks to improve outcomes for Hispanic students in STEM and broadly in higher education in Puerto Rico. Faculty will be better equipped to meet the challenges of this “new normal” if they are supported by each other, focused on their own wellness, trained for writing competitive grants, and trained in best practices for hybrid and/or virtual STEM instruction in a culturally supportive environment to promote the success of Hispanic STEM students.

The design and analysis of this mixed-methods evaluative research study are based on Kezar’s (2013) framework of organizational learning through “sensemaking.” The project will help faculty “make sense” of their value and how they require personal wellness and stronger communities to be effective. Participants in the conference will learn about successful capacity-building efforts of other STEM faculty and administrators which resulted in student success. The conference will address the topics of (1) faculty wellness, (2) creating communities through sustained dialogues, (3) grant-writing, and (4) culturally responsive pedagogies. The main goals are to (1) equip HSI faculty from PR to meet the challenges of today’s “new normal” by focusing on their own wellness; (2) create a sustained dialogue on the importance of collaboration among HSIs in Puerto Rico and in the US; (3) empower faculty to use best practices for Hispanic students to promote the success and (4) receive training for competitive grant-writing (to secure funds to support their work). The conference activities will generate evidence of faculty improved faculty wellbeing, sense of belonging, self-efficacy in grant-writing, and implementation of best practices in the classroom to support STEM students. This evidence will be used to seek additional funding to support yearly iterations of the conference with the long-term goal of forming a self-sustaining education research association on the island that will foster long-term excellence in higher education research for HSIs in Puerto Rico as well as collaborations with the US mainland to promote education research that builds capacity for student success. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Kelly Mack
DCWashington2232070American Association for the Advancement of ScienceAAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellowships (2022-2027) The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) will continue its collaboration in providing scientists and engineers experiential professional development and public service fellowships via the AAAS Science and Technology Fellowship (STPF) Program. The STPF program objectives are to: educate scientists and engineers on the intricacies of federal policy making; provide information and analyses that support decision makers confronting challenges that involve scientific and technological issues; empower civic engagement and leadership by scientists and engineers by enhancing their skills to assess, communicate and apply science and technology in policy contexts; foster STEM leaders with skills and experience in policymaking and policy implementation; increase the involvement and visibility of scientists and engineers in the policy realm; and foster positive exchange between STEM professionals and policymakers. In the long-term, the STPF program seeks to build science and engineering leadership capacity to support evidence-based policy and practice by developing scientists and engineers who understand government and policy-making and are able to develop solutions to the nation's challenges.

Fellows are selected by the AAAS annually through a highly competitive process and placed for one-year fellowships in offices throughout the NSF. Under the guidance of mentors, fellows work on projects of mutual interest to the fellow and the host office. Fellowship activities enable the fellows to gain insight into how national science and technology policy goals are translated into programs at NSF that reflect the agency's mission. The AAAS provides an orientation on executive branch and congressional operations, as well as knowledge- and skill-building professional development seminars throughout the year. The AAAS conducts extensive outreach for recruitment, including scientists and engineers from traditionally underrepresented populations; administers a rigorous merit review process to identify finalists; matches fellows with host offices; and provides support for the fellows throughout their fellowships.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Rashada Alexander
FLCoral Gables1764166University of MiamiCollaborative HSI Conference: Co-designing an engineering education research agenda The National Science Foundation Dear Colleague letter NSF 17-092: Improving Undergraduate STEM Education in Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) calls for conference proposals that will help identify challenges and opportunities in STEM education at Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs). Given the lack of resources that many engineering educators face attending conferences, this proposal consists of a series of traveling workshops that target engineering educators from HSIs. The focus on these workshops is to leverage design thinking methodologies to better understand the HSI institutional context and co-develop research need with educators through an iterative and emergent analysis process.

The two-day workshops will take place at the University of Texas at El Paso (PI institution) and the University of Miami (Coral Gables, FL). Texas and Florida have some of the highest concentration of HSIs in the country, and both locations are within a short driving distance to several 2-year and 4-year institutions considered HSIs. Pre-workshop activities will help participants establish a baseline understanding of the needs, values, cultures, and characteristics of participants and their home institutions. During the workshop, participants will be introduced to three educational approaches that will help them examine their own beliefs and contexts and develop initial questions of interest about their institution, their students, and themselves as it relates to positively impacting the educational experiences of their students. The three approaches are Design Thinking, Intrinsic Motivation, and students as Empowered Agents. Using these ideas, participants will also develop a prototype of something they can try upon returning to their institution, and, through this prototyping process, they will continue to record emerging research questions and needs. A follow-up workshop at the ASEE Conference in June of 2018 will allow participants to share their reactions to their prototype experience. This workshop will also serve to disseminate and refine the resulting research agenda. The expected outcomes of this proposal are to produce (1) a set of research questions and needs to support the National Science Foundation's development of an HSI-focused research agenda, (2) educational experiments and prototypes for dissemination within the conference community and (3) a conference-design framework for identifying non-obvious research needs and engaging educators in the engineering education research and scholarship process.
Ines Basalo
FLMiami1832436Miami Dade CollegeBuilding Capacity: STEM Student Success from Two-year to Four-year Institutions through Classroom-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program) aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI program will also generate new knowledge about how to achieve these aims. This project will advance the aims of the HSI Program by adding course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) to introductory algebra, biology, and chemistry courses, which serve as gateways into STEM majors. This project is a collaboration between Miami Dade College, the largest two-year HSI in the nation, the University of Florida, and the University of Miami. The project predicts that the addition of CURES will enhance the undergraduate learning experience, thus supporting increases in the number of students obtaining associate degrees in STEM disciplines and in the success of students in transferring to four-year institutions. The project will identify factors for increasing retention and completion rates in STEM degree programs for undergraduates, including Hispanic and underserved students. The project seeks to enrich the STEM workforce by increasing the number of trained STEM professionals.

The goal of the project is to increase undergraduate persistence and completion in the STEM degrees through the adoption of CURE-infused STEM gateway activities. This project aims to improve understanding of how integration of CUREs and other educational supports in gateway courses will affect retention and completion rates of undergraduate students. Faculty will participate in professional development activities to incorporate CUREs into STEM gateway courses in mathematics, biology, and chemistry. The CUREs in gateway courses will be designed to enhance the student experience by engaging students in contextualized learning with real world experiences. The students in the CURE-infused STEM courses will devise their own investigations, write a scientific research paper, and present their findings at a public poster session. The senior undergraduate students and graduate students from the University of Florida and the University of Miami, along with the faculty from Miami Dade College teaching the gateway courses, will lead authentic research laboratories at Miami Dade College. Through curricular enhancement, together with faculty professional development, this project seeks to 1) increase the percentage of STEM students enrolled in CURE-infused STEM gateway courses in the disciplines of mathematics, biology, and chemistry; 2) increase the number of undergraduates continuing from a first to a second sequential STEM course; 3) increase the number of undergraduates completing a STEM associate degree in three years; 4) increase the percentage of students successfully transferring into STEM baccalaureate programs; 5) increase the number of STEM faculty teaching CURE-infused STEM courses; and 6) increase the number of students participating in CURE-infused STEM courses. By collecting and analyzing quantitative and qualitative data, the project can generate new knowledge about the factors that stimulate student persistence and completion in STEM at the Community College level. The project seeks to develop a model for integrating CUREs into the STEM curriculum that could be useful to other institutions, especially Hispanic-Serving Community Colleges.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Victor Okafor
FLMiami1832450Florida International UniversityBuilding Capacity: Catalyzing Change in Calculus The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program) aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI program will also generate new knowledge about how to achieve these aims. This project at Florida International University will advance the aims of the HSI Program by increasing the success of students in calculus. Leveraging a partnership with Broward College, this project will implement Modeling Practices in Calculus, a student-centered curriculum in which students learn calculus by engaging in the authentic practices of mathematicians. Such practices include working in teams, looking at problems from different perspectives, and proficiently using terminology and symbols. Learning assistants who are near peers will facilitate learning in the classroom, enabling students to learn from mistakes, give and receive feedback, and help one another learn. The project's research design includes longitudinal measures of student success and the tracking of students who transfer from Broward College to Florida International University. The project will directly affect over 15,000 students enrolled at two HSIs, where over 80% of students are from historically-underrepresented groups.

The specific aims of the project include generating new knowledge about the effectiveness of the Modeling Practices Curriculum and how this curriculum fosters learning for highly diverse student populations. Further, it will generate knowledge about faculty adoption practices and institutional change as it establishes an institutional culture to sustain and expand the intervention. The research design includes randomized-control trials as well as multivariate matching methods to establish a strong evidentiary base for the impacts of the Modeling Practices Curriculum and facilitate comparison of student outcomes, both immediate and longitudinal. Over the period of funding, the project will host eight professional development workshops for faculty. The implementation-tested Modeling Practices Curriculum materials, instructional guides, and research finding will be disseminated broadly, to two-year and four-year institutions with diverse student populations that are seeking to enhance the learning of calculus.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Laird Kramer
FLMiami1854816Florida International UniversityLinkCollaborative HSI Conference: Co-designing an engineering education research agenda The National Science Foundation Dear Colleague letter NSF 17-092: Improving Undergraduate STEM Education in Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) calls for conference proposals that will help identify challenges and opportunities in STEM education at Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs). Given the lack of resources that many engineering educators face attending conferences, this proposal consists of a series of traveling workshops that target engineering educators from HSIs. The focus on these workshops is to leverage design thinking methodologies to better understand the HSI institutional context and co-develop research need with educators through an iterative and emergent analysis process.

The two-day workshops will take place at the University of Texas at El Paso (PI institution) and the University of Miami (Coral Gables, FL). Texas and Florida have some of the highest concentration of HSIs in the country, and both locations are within a short driving distance to several 2-year and 4-year institutions considered HSIs. Pre-workshop activities will help participants establish a baseline understanding of the needs, values, cultures, and characteristics of participants and their home institutions. During the workshop, participants will be introduced to three educational approaches that will help them examine their own beliefs and contexts and develop
initial questions of interest about their institution, their students, and themselves as it relates to positively impacting the educational experiences of their students. The three approaches are Design Thinking, Intrinsic Motivation, and students as Empowered Agents. Using these ideas, participants will also develop a prototype of something they can try upon returning to their institution, and, through this prototyping process, they will continue to record emerging research questions and needs. A follow-up workshop at the ASEE Conference in June of 2018 will allow participants to share their reactions to their prototype experience. This workshop will also serve to disseminate and refine the resulting research agenda. The expected outcomes of this proposal are to produce (1) a set of research questions and needs to support the National Science Foundation?s development of an HSI-focused research agenda, (2) educational experiments and prototypes for dissemination within the conference community and (3) a conference-design framework for identifying non-obvious research needs and engaging educators in the engineering education
research and scholarship process.
Alexandra Strong
FLLake Worth1928343Palm Beach State CollegeSTEM Articulation and Transfer Collaborative Project With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program, this Track 1 project aims to increase the successful transfer of students from a two-year institution to a four-year institution, and their graduation with a four-year degree. It will do so by creating a model of proactive articulation, advising, and enhanced student learning opportunities. The transfer model will be developed through a partnership between Palm Beach State College and Florida Atlantic University. To enhance student learning, Palm Beach State College will collaborate with the Scripps Research Institute-Florida and the Max Planck Florida Institute to integrate classroom-based undergraduate research opportunities into chemistry courses. Expected project outcomes include improved degree attainment and development of a transfer success model that can be adapted by all STEM disciplines at the partner institutions. By developing a collaborative transfer-success model that enhances student learning and facilitates the successful transfer of students, this project can contribute to diversifying the STEM workforce. It is expected that the project's transfer success model could also be implemented to enhance the success of other two-year/four-year collaborations that seek to enhance student success and degree attainment in STEM.

The project aims to increase retention and degree completion for all STEM students, full- or part-time, with attention to the needs of Hispanic students. To accomplish these goals, the project will streamline advising protocols and articulation agreements between the institutions, and provide students with early research experiences and enhanced academic supports. The program will focus on chemistry and biology, which are essential STEM disciplines for the successful completion of Florida Atlantic University's College of Science programs. In year 1, the project will develop and pilot a program of streamlined articulation, collaborative advising, and Hispanic culture-centered strategies to improve academic outcomes in chemistry. In year 2, the project seeks to fully implement and refine the validated model for chemistry. In years 3 and 4, the model will be institutionalized in chemistry and applied to biology. In year 5, elements of the model may be expanded to additional STEM disciplines at the two schools. To provide an understanding of student educational pathways, a mixed methods analysis will compare and synthesize quantitative data (e.g., data from student transcripts; co-curricular participation) and qualitative data from student surveys. Strategies and processes developed by the project will be shared through a website, presentations at national conferences such as the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities Conference and the Association of Community Colleges Conference, and publications in journals such as the Journal of College Science Teaching. It is expected that this project will influence other higher education institutions that seek to enhance student learning and the successful transfer of students from diverse backgrounds. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these goals.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Becky Mercer
FLKey West1928591Florida Keys Community CollegeDeveloping Reliable Educational Avenues to STEM Careers With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 project aims to build institutional capacity in STEM, particularly marine science and technology. To achieve this goal, the project seeks to improve student perceptions of STEM and to increase the number of students who enter STEM programs and pursue STEM careers. Project activities include implementation of innovative teaching strategies, use of and research about the effectiveness of technologies such as virtual reality, and development of effective pathways to STEM careers. By developing a STEM Ambassador program, the project will provide opportunities for undergraduates to participate in STEM outreach to K-12 students. The undergraduate STEM Ambassadors will share their experiences and provide real-life examples about what makes STEM interesting and how to be successful in STEM. The project will also engage students in undergraduate research and professional internships to help them develop skills needed in the workplace. The project team will investigate the effectiveness of innovative technologies, such as virtual reality, to actively engage students and elevate their interest in STEM and STEM careers. Expected outcomes of the project include increased recruitment and retention of students in STEM programs, thus contributing to increasing the diversity of the STEM workforce.

The project aims to: (1) increase student interest in STEM careers; (2) increase retention and completion of students who participate in the project activities relative to non-participants; and (3) increase the successful transition of undergraduates into the STEM workforce. The project seeks to generate knowledge about: (1) how virtual reality can be a tool for increasing student interest in STEM programs; (2) how participation in the project activities affects student retention and completion in STEM programs; and (3) how paid professional internships affect student preparation to enter the STEM workforce. The project will analyze data from surveys, student tracking systems, and institutional sources to complete a comparative study of outcomes of project participants versus non-participants. The project intends to develop a reproducible model for creating reliable and realistic educational pathways from K-12, through academia and into the STEM workforce. Project results will be shared through webpages and social media, conference presentations, scholarly and professional publications, and through the Community College Undergraduate Research Initiative (CCURI) network. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Patrick Rice
FLMiami1953586Florida International UniversityDeveloping Engineering Instructional Faculty as Leaders of Educational Change at Hispanic-Serving Institutions With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 project focuses on enabling non-tenure-eligible, instructional faculty to further foster culturally responsive, evidence-based approaches in engineering education at Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs). Non-tenure-eligible Engineering Instructional Faculty (EIF) are an under-explored and under-supported population who play a critical role in students’ educational experiences within engineering. With the historical emphasis placed on faculty development and resources for tenure-track faculty, there is an untapped opportunity to amplify the existing efforts of EIF at HSIs to support an increasingly diverse student population. This project seeks to develop EIF as leaders of educational change who embrace and promote the use of culturally responsive, evidence-based instructional practices at HSIs. Towards this end, this project will partner with EIF to design Engineering Leadership Academies (ELA) - a self-sustaining, within- and cross-institutional faculty development model that equips EIF and amplifies their leadership of educational change at HSIs. Through professional development and coaching of approximately 80 EIF, the project will enrich a growing network of educational leaders at HSIs. These EIF will design educational initiatives for their campuses that seek to improve student learning and retention, with the potential to directly impact the education of over 1,800 engineering students throughout the project. In addition, the ELAs and the culminating National ELA conference will expand the reach of the faculty development by including participants from a diverse set of HSIs, including two- and four-year institutions as well as those who receive low levels of NSF funding.

This project aims to (1) develop a rich understanding of the perspectives and experiences of EIF at HSIs, (2) define a framework for how to support educational change leadership development of EIF, and (3) identify learning experiences that support EIF leadership development, (4) design and implement ELAs to thereby (5) increase the use of innovative, culturally responsive, evidence-based teaching approaches in engineering education programs at HSIs. This multi-year project will use a variety of qualitative, quantitative, and participatory research methods embedded in a series of action research cycles. Each cycle will enable both the iterative development of the ELA and the inclusion of additional EIF from HSIs nationwide. This research will provide the engineering education and faculty development communities with a deep understanding of an under-explored and under-served population of faculty, specifically EIF at HSIs. The project findings will further expand models for developing teachers-as-leaders and engineering leadership to create a framework for sustainable engineering faculty leadership development. The design and implementation of the ELAs will make visible the features and necessary content of faculty development programs that promote educational leadership and innovation at HSIs. Broader dissemination of the findings at a National ELA Conference will enable EIF participants to share their educational innovations and associated research findings with a growing network of EIFs. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Alexandra Strong
FLOrlando1953606The University of Central Florida Board of TrusteesBuilding Undergraduate Capacity in STEM at a Hispanic Serving Institution utilizing Culturally-Relevant Instruction with Micro-Credentialing With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 project aims to create and analyze a supportive comprehensive system to build undergraduate student capacity in STEM fields at HSIs. The project will support underserved and underrepresented individuals in STEM to increase employability and representations in the workforce by (a) training higher-education STEM faculty and graduate teaching assistants in culturally-relevant instructional approaches, (b) digitizing assessments and increasing peer-tutoring for students, and (c) incorporating micro-credentialing and industry internships. The culturally-relevant instructional approach will be integrated into undergraduate core courses spanning multiple STEM disciplines for delivery of approximately 9,500 students annually. This project also aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs that typically may not receive high levels of funding. To this end, the investigators will work to transport the developed pedagogy through technical and instructional exchange activities including a summer training workshop conducted annually.

The project aims to: (a) analyze the impact of culturally-relevant training for undergraduate faculty, graduate teaching assistants, and peer mentors related to learner achievement, engagement, and degree attainment; (b) employ and refine an assessment infrastructure to promote student learning, retention, advancement, and graduation at HSIs; (c) create an automated micro-credentialing tool that would provide access to community internships while developing student self-efficacy; and (d) develop culturally-relevant curricular materials to train STEM faculty, graduate teaching assistants, and peer tutors. The project will advance research related to culturally-relevant instructional activities in STEM, peer-tutoring, and experiential learning opportunities inclusive of micro-credentialing. Data collected in this research includes the following scales: General Engineering Self-Efficacy Scale (GESES), Culturally Responsive Teaching Self-Efficacy (CRTSE), and Culturally Responsive Teaching Outcome Expectancy (CRTOE). Additionally, focus groups and survey research of all participants will provide a robust information to inform STEM educational stakeholders.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Ronald DeMara
FLOrlando2111262Valencia Community CollegeSuccessful Engagement of Faculty: Promoting Widespread Use of Active Learning in Mathematics This project aims to serve the national interest by developing and studying a comprehensive faculty development program at a large enrollment community college that will work to transform how faculty approach teaching and learning in early college mathematics courses. Over the life of the project, at least 90 faculty will work in cohorts and with experienced peer mentors to integrate active learning techniques into their classes. Participants will also consider how active learning and other equitable, student-centered practices might provide support for a broader population of students. Project research and evaluation will contribute new knowledge about effective teaching practices that support student success and will examine how aspects of the project mentoring, collaborative course redesign, and year-round engagement through summer institutes and academic-year meetings contribute to widespread, faculty-led instructional change. Data on faculty mindset and practices will be aligned with student outcome measures in order to identify practices that might be adopted by other institutions nationwide.

The main goals of the project are to deepen community college mathematics faculty’s understanding of active learning; to support faculty using collaboration and a peer-mentoring program to create an environment encouraging risk-taking, experimentation, and resilience; and to contribute new and useful knowledge to the undergraduate mathematics education community. Valencia Community College is a federally designated Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) that offers approximately 1,000 sections of early undergraduate mathematics each year. The institution’s large size and diverse student body provides a unique opportunity to study the project’s two central research questions: (1) To what extent does a mathematics faculty development program, consisting of a summer institute, collaborative, cohort-based course redesign, and a mentoring program influence faculty growth mindset and mitigate perceived barriers to implementation of active learning at a large, two-year Hispanic Serving Institution?; and (2) What impact do faculty knowledge, experiences and attitudes about equity have on the implementation of active learning in this setting? Major data sources include multiple validated surveys, classroom observations, interviews, classroom activity logs and student academic outcomes. Faculty adoption of active learning practices will be assessed in the context of participants’ beliefs about students’ capacity to grow as learners, taking into account past training, years of classroom experience, course modality (e.g., online or face-to-face) and potential role as a project mentor. This project is supported by the NSF HSI and IUSE:EHR programs. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Sidra VanDeCar
FLMiami2115153Miami Dade CollegeArtificial Intelligence For All: A Framework for a College Certificate This implementation and evaluation project from Miami Dade College (MDC) aims to serve the national interest by increasing community colleges’ capacity to develop and offer courses in artificial intelligence (AI) with the AI for All project. MDC plans to attract and train more students in AI by creating a College Credit Certificate in AI Framework. Innovative features of the project include an HSI community college adapting AI courses originally developed for a four-year university program and combining them with multiple on-ramps and supports for engaging students such as bootcamps, workshops, and mentoring. The interdisciplinary focus will allow for weaving AI engagement across MDC’s colleges and programs providing students with a foundational literacy of AI that will inform whatever career path they follow. The long-term impacts will include increasing awareness and engagement for non-computer science students in AI courses, developing a four-year AI degree at an HSI community college; and broadening participation of groups historically underrepresented in computing careers.

The project’s goal is to develop AI courses and an interdisciplinary certificate that will lead to successful student outcomes, while building capacity for the development of a four-year degree in AI at an HSI community college. The STEM education research will explore the computing identity development of students participating in the AI for All project activities, examining how multiple entry points into and paths through the certificate program function to build STEM identity and AI self-efficacy, particularly in Black and Hispanic students. The findings will inform computer science education practices and policies for MDC’s continued work across other computer science degree programs. It will also inform the work of other HSI community colleges developing AI programs. This research will be of value to universities seeking to increase the success of their Hispanic and Black students pursuing degrees in computer science. The project evaluation will examine the collaboration process between MDC and its partners and those findings will help inform MDC’s future collaborations, and those of other community colleges who would like to explore these types of partnerships. The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-serving Institutions Program (HSI Program) aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Antonio Delgado
FLFort Pierce2122783Indian River State CollegeImplementing Guided Inquiry Learning and Peer-Led Tutoring in Online Algebra and General Biology Laboratory Courses to Increase Student Retention and Degree Completion The post-COVID movement of first-year courses to virtual environments led to increased underrepresented minority student enrollment but decreased student engagement. In this project Indian River State College aims to improve student engagement by piloting the use of high impact teaching practices, specifically in an online environment. In particular, the project seeks to increase enrollment, persistence, and successful completion of College Algebra and General Biology lab, two gateway courses that are fundamental for further progress in STEM disciplines. This project will modify techniques used in the in-person environment to improve online student success. Peer learning assistants will be placed in virtual courses to increase support for online learners. Content will be taught using process-oriented guided inquiry learning, a method shown to increase student engagement and improve processing skills in face-to-face courses. Using these practices, the college expects to increase the number of students retained through the next science and math classes and improve the likelihood that they will complete a STEM degree.

This project will explore how embedded peer learning assistants and guided inquiry methods can be used in virtual modalities to promote student engagement, persistence, and completion for students pursuing their degrees at a community college. Two goals guide the work of the project's investigators. First is to increase the percentage of students enrolled in online College Algebra and General Biology lab courses with embedded peer tutors and guided inquiry teaching techniques. Second is to increase the percentage of Hispanic students persisting from first to second semester Mathematics and Biology. The project will increase the number of minority students that pursue STEM careers and the number of graduates from groups whose participation in STEM is proportionately less than their representation within the general population. The project’s results and pedagogical best practices will be shared through publications, a website, and the college’s Open Education Resource depository. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Melissa Doud
FLGainesville2137331University of FloridaCollaborative Research: HSI Conference: Exploring the Realities of Contingent Latinx Faculty in STEM With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this HSI Conference project aims to more deeply explore across Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI), the realities of contingent (part-time, contract-bound, or non-tenure track) Latinx faculty with various research and teaching roles. This collaborative project consists of a two-part conference focusing on the experiences of Latinx faculty in STEM, one part for faculty members themselves, and one for their administrators. This work will explore the working realities of contingent faculty who represent over 46% of the employed faculty in higher education systems. In particular, we will seek to understand the challenges many contingent faculty, primarily from the Latinx communities, experience in the California State University (CSU) system. CSU schools collectively form one of the largest pools of HSIs in the nation in terms of Latina/o undergraduate enrollment in HSIs. This work will contribute to a fairly untapped and underexplored area of research to help uncover the hidden barriers that prevent the success and navigation of these individuals in their professions. Although this conference proposal is primarily focused on Latinx contingent faculty in STEM, the anticipated work and results will serve as a baseline for future research as well as policy-informed initiatives to support the success of these faculty, and by extension their students.

The aims of this project are to (1) coalesce both HSI, Latinx contingent STEM faculty, and administrators to examine the hidden realities of Latinx contingent faculty in STEM; (2) to qualitatively analyze the conference discussions using STEM education research methods and evaluate and analyze conference outcomes from a policy perspective (led by RAND Corporation) to co-generate a policy brief to share with STEM deans and HSI administrators; and (3) develop an infographic summary to disseminate results to organizations and stakeholders with an interest in issues of Latinx contingent faculty in STEM and policy reform. The research methods will be purely exploratory and qualitative in nature using case study research approaches. Qualitative data will be analyzed through thematic and emerging coding techniques and be used toward the development of a codebook and dissemination products that inform the dissemination products (e.g., policy brief). With the support of RAND Corporation, a policy think tank, we will not only disseminate the work through academic journals but reach a wider academic audience of ways to support contingent faculty, which in turn are in the frontlines of supporting undergraduate (and often marginalized) students in STEM. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Idalis Villanueva
FLMiami2202610Florida International UniversityCollaborative Research: Intelligent Immersive Environments for Learning Robotics The global economy is being rapidly reshaped by sophisticated robots that enhance human dexterity, visual perception, speed, and strength. This intense focus on creating and implementing new automation technologies is bringing disruptive changes to job markets. In Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industries, robotics automation is transforming jobs at a speed and scale never experienced before, leading to new demand for skilled workers in advanced technologies and robotics. Addressing the learning needs of AEC students, future professionals, and industry workers is critical for ensuring the competitiveness of a large proportion of the US workforce. Our proposal is inspired by recent technological achievements in self-adaptive, data-driven, and autonomous systems for virtual learning. These technologies bear the promise to transform education by personalization and tailoring the learning content and sequence for differences in ability, experience, and sociocultural background. Leveraging these technologies, we will research, develop, and test a personalized learning tool for delivering an industrial robotics curriculum to prepare the next generation of the AEC workforce.

We plan to achieve this goal with five educational and scientific innovations: 1) Artificial Intelligence (AI)-assisted Adaptive Intelligent Learning System 2) AI-assisted coaching, 3) Novel curriculum content and delivery in virtual reality, 4) Game-based learning user experience, and user interface and 5) AI-enabled learning analytics. The design and implementation of this project will contribute to technological advancement in AI-assisted Adaptive Intelligent Learning systems and our ability to apply state-of-the-art AI and Natural Language Processing techniques for the analysis of learning data. Advancing this frontier is critical for our ability to evaluate learner data at scale. Further, our development of AI-Assisted coaching will lead to broadly applicable advancements in intelligent tutoring systems. It includes a novel capacity to detect and identify learner failure patterns and to apply known remediation to improve learning outcomes. In addition, the design and implementation of a curriculum that dynamically changes in response to learner input, skill level, and advancement toward learning goals can bring new pedagogical approaches to curriculum development, reshaping our current practices. Finally, our project will enrich learning analytics by integrating biometric and performance data leading to a greater understanding of the learning process.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Shahin Vassigh
FLBoca Raton2204462Florida Atlantic UniversityADVANCE Adaptation: Enabling Minorities’ Prime Outcomes with Education & Research (EMPOWER) at Florida Atlantic University The absence of an inclusive and diverse STEM faculty significantly hurts the education of a STEM workforce by the lack of role models to help educate the diverse group of students at Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs). Demographically unrepresentative science can also negatively impact and neglect research in areas that communities and societies need. Prior NSF ADVANCE CATALYST funding provided significant knowledge and initiated changes in the hiring processes. However, inclusive support for underrepresented and intersectional minorities in hiring, retention, and promotion will make a significant difference in the institutional landscape and culture. An NSF ADVANCE adaptation award will allow Florida Atlantic University to undertake new initiatives, build on current policies and data collection activities, and transform FAU into an equitable, inclusive, and diverse place of academic teaching and research. This project will seek to advance: (1) self-sustaining interventions for diverse hiring; (2) transparent and equitable policies, (3) information through a longitudinal demographic data dashboard of faculty; and (4) strategic communications. These interventions will focus on inclusive support for gender diversity and intersectional minorities (most visibly, Latina and African American women) in hiring, retention, and promotion. The process will adapt evidence-based practices and innovations from sister ADVANCE institutions. To aid institutional integration and long-term sustainability, the project team will prioritize practices that will be bootstrapped with ADVANCE support and synergized with ongoing efforts and existing institutional infrastructures for diversity.

The specific aims of the project are to 1) generate evidence-based research to scan and identify inequitable policies, the relationships that they entertain with each other, and their change over time; 2) develop a reproducible and transferrable process for building a policy database (with a website portal consisting of two key sections- an open-access section that allows for policy transparency and a secured section for internal use aimed at flagging inequity); and (3) a scalable longitudinal faculty dashboard to collect long-term trends in equity. The project will focus the competencies on Complex Systems and Data Science to identify interconnected factors that influence systemic change. This will be done with adaptive analytic approaches that are capable of processing large numbers of variables that dynamically interact on multiple levels over time. The successful implementation of this project for institutional change aims to achieve a more representative and participatory STEM faculty and accelerate institutional competitiveness in education and research. The crucial outcome of this transformation will be the mitigation of STEM workforce shortages with implications for local industries (in particular biotechnologies, aerospace, health, aging, agriculture, international trade, marine environment, information technology and security, and financial services).

This project was supported by a co-funding from the HSI Program. The HSI program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs.

The NSF ADVANCE program is designed to foster gender equity through a focus on the identification and elimination of organizational barriers that impede the full participation and advancement of diverse faculty in academic institutions. Organizational barriers that inhibit equity may exist in policies, processes, practices, and the organizational culture and climate. ADVANCE "Adaptation" awards provide support for the adaptation and adoption of evidence-based strategies to the academic, non-profit institutions of higher education as well as non-academic, non-profit organizations.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Alka Sapat
FLMiami2213936Florida International UniversityAssessing Sense of Belonging, Climate, and Culture at the Departmental Level from the Perspective of Undergraduate STEM Students This project aims to serve the national interest by developing a tool to measure undergraduate STEM students’ perceptions about the climate and culture of STEM departments. Students’ sense of belonging is key in retaining and graduating STEM undergraduates, especially STEM students from populations marginalized in STEM. The project plans to adapt questions from an existing tool, as well as develop new questions about STEM department climate and culture based on student interviews and focus groups with STEM department stakeholders. After initial development in three institutions, the project team intends to implement the tool in STEM departments in multiple institutions across the country. Additionally, the project plans to develop a handbook to guide departments in using this tool. This project should advance understanding of STEM student experiences in STEM departments and support efforts to retain students in STEM.

This project at Florida International University (FIU) aims to develop a research-based assessment tool to measure undergraduate STEM students’ sense of belonging to their department, as well as their perceptions about departmental climate and culture. FIU is a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) and will collaborate with California State University, Fullerton and California State University, San Marcos, which are also HSIs. The project plans to adapt an existing assessment tool that examines sense of belonging and to develop new items to probe departmental culture and climate through input gathered from student interviews and focus groups with a diverse population of faculty, staff, advisors, and other departmental stakeholders. In addition to traditional closed-ended Likert-type questions and open-ended written assessment probes, the project plans to develop items based on visual narratives to probe students’ perceptions of departmental climate and culture. The new assessment tool will be piloted with a sample of ~1,400 undergraduate students in biology, chemistry, and physics departments across the three collaborating institutions to gather evidence of validity. Once initially validated, the assessment tool will then be implemented across at least 14 additional STEM departments, with data from the study returned to departments for reflection and discussion. Project evaluation will be guided by a 5-member advisory board composed of scholars from across different institutions and multiple relevant disciplines. Dissemination efforts include conference presentations, peer-reviewed publications, and development of a departmental handbook to guide use of the tool. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools. This project is also supported by the NSF IUSE:HSI program, which has the goals of enhancing the quality of undergraduate STEM education, and increasing the recruitment, retention, and graduation rates of students pursuing associate’s or baccalaureate degrees in STEM.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Melissa McCartney
FLMiami2216167Florida International UniversityProject Empower: Collaborative Curriculum Design Tailored for Student Success and Inclusive Culture in Algebra-Based Physics This project aims to serve the national interest by improving curricula in physics education. Algebra-based physics is taught to thousands of U.S. students every year, many of whom are non-physics majors who may be apprehensive of physics and may not know how physics knowledge may be relevant for their future careers. This project involves recruiting undergraduate students in algebra-based physics courses to help identify their career needs, exploring their interests related to physics, and aligning their needs with the utility of physics concepts to design a culturally appropriate and student-centered curriculum. This project intends to provide algebra-based physics students with an opportunity to meaningfully engage in their physics learning by giving them a voice in the curriculum and allowing them to build connections between their own career interests and physics concepts. The project should yield curricular materials for algebra-based physics courses that other instructors will be able to adapt through their participation in immersive workshops. It is hoped that improved algebra-based physics curricula will support better-prepared STEM professionals who can more effectively use their physics knowledge in their chosen careers.

Guided by elements of a framework for culturally relevant pedagogy, the project plans to design, adapt, and pilot Modeling Instruction curriculum materials for introductory algebra-based physics courses. The three-year project design will address the following research questions: 1) What are the motivations and expectations of students enrolled in the algebra-based physics course? 2) How does culturally responsive and student-centered curricular activities impact students’ expectancy values, physics identities and sense of belonging in physics? 3) For instructors implementing this curriculum, how do they perceive that culturally responsive pedagogy and student-centered activities can be applied within their own course contexts? The data that will drive the design and adaptation of the curriculum will center the experiences of undergraduates enrolled in algebra-based physics, who will be recruited to be participant researchers and co-designers of curricular reforms. Immersive summer workshops will be offered for faculty from other institutions who are interested in adopting the new curriculum. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools. This project is also supported by the NSF IUSE:HSI program, which has the goals of enhancing the quality of undergraduate STEM education, and increasing the recruitment, retention, and graduation rates of students pursuing associate’s or baccalaureate degrees in STEM.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Idaykis Rodriguez
FLFort Lauderdale2225180Nova Southeastern UniversityHSI Implementation and Evaluation Project: Co-Curricular Strategies to Support Academically Challenged Diverse Undergraduate STEM Majors With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 2: IEP project aims to offer a coordinated combination of evidence-based strategic co-curricular interventions to support diverse STEM majors who are struggling early in their academic pathways. Because many diverse students are underprepared both academically and motivationally for degree success, the project will target diverse Computer Science, Engineering, Biology, and Marine Biology majors who are placed on (or who through early identification are deemed to be at risk of being placed on) academic probation. An intersectional team of STEM faculty, industry, and near-peer coaches/mentors/role models will work collectively to provide timely and continuous asset-based coaching/mentoring, specialized STEM tutoring, and research and industry-based experiential learning activities. Coaches/mentors will be trained to serve as allies to facilitate a positive academic mindset, providing guidance (and referrals as needed) to high-quality wrap-around resources to address students’ individual academic and personal needs. The project will contribute important findings to the body of knowledge in STEM higher education regarding the relationship between academic success outcomes (especially among underrepresented students at HSIs) and coordinated support programs and services. The approach will benefit society by increasing underrepresented student graduation leading to increased employment diversity in high demand STEM occupational fields.

The project goal will be to better understand issues in the retention and degree attainment of STEM undergraduates (especially those who are underrepresented) to pursue careers in promising STEM fields and contribute to the American innovation economy. The outcome will be a model of sound educational practices that generate promising evidence in increasing success measures that indicate the broadening participation of students who are historically underrepresented in STEM. The research hypothesis will be: An intensive summer program that focuses on providing meaningful, holistic support and developing individual relationships with and between students, can reduce/minimize feelings of frustration and a lack of self-confidence among academically challenged underrepresented students in the STEM academic environment, and help those students achieve their potential as demonstrated by retention and graduation rates. The Early-Stage (Exploratory) Research plan will contribute to core knowledge in education, examining correlations between project interventions and participant retention and graduation rates; the research methodology will involve identifying evidence of the potential of summer program activities to improve retention and graduation. The case study will contribute to the advancement of knowledge in high impact programs and services specific to underrepresented/ intersectional STEM students, demonstrating effective, practical ways to bring a new perspective to addressing cultural responsiveness. Dissemination of best practices and case study results will be achieved through presentations, publications, and establishment of a new website for use by other educators, researchers, and policymakers. The body of knowledge shared will advance opportunity equity, increasing US intellectual capital for underrepresented students to succeed in greater numbers. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Meline Kevorkian
FLMiami2225201Florida International UniversityHSI Institutional Transformation Project Voces (Voices for Organizing Change in Educational Systems) With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 3 project aims to transform university practices by integrating student-generated strategies and actions into faculty professional development and university operations, thus, improving student learning and graduation success across all STEM disciplines. Students at HSIs bring a wealth of experiences and come through numerous educational pathways. However, the richness of their experiences is generally an underutilized resource and not integrated into institutional decisions. This project will utilize students' experiences to sustainably improve Florida International University's (FIU) student success through the establishment of a STEM Voceros program, creation of faculty professional development with students as partners, and institution practices and policies that integrate students' perspectives. The expected outcomes of this work include new student-led educational improvement models that can be adapted and implemented at HSIs across the nation and have the potential to transform educational systems to better serve students' needs.

The specific aims of the project include creating a resilient institutional change movement that advances STEM opportunities for FIU's historically underrepresented student body. Central to the project is the establishment of the STEM Voceros program that will develop and deploy undergraduates across all STEM disciplines to improve instructional practice and policies systemically at the institution. STEM Voceros (literally, the one that speaks on behalf of others) will be students engaged in faculty professional development, through multiple organized workshops as well as deployed in STEM classrooms, co-facilitating and co-designing evidence-based curriculum that engages our highly diverse student body and leads to improved faculty practice and student outcomes. Voceros will be engaged in the project’s research enterprise to examine institution-level outcomes as well as bring their student-focused perspective to guide the research. The Voceros’ instructional and research roles will intentionally prepare them for STEM policy engagement, their third major role. They will 1) conduct STEM degree program reviews across STEM departments to promote student needs in program design, 2) establish a Student ComPASS, a yearly accountability review to promote the educational outcomes of all students, and 3) establish a student steering committee to guide the Voces project. This multi-layered design will integrate our diverse STEM students’ voice and experiences throughout the instructional practices, research mission and institutional policies and practices. Faculty and university leadership will become reliant on student voice and create the opportunity to re-envision the decision-making norms and thereby establish sustained systemic change at FIU. Voces will generate new knowledge on the effectiveness of student-led institutional change models, as well as increase our understanding of its impact on students' agency, faculty practices, and institutional structures and processes at an HSI. The strategies and outcomes will be disseminated locally to partner institutions as well as nationally through established networks and professional meetings. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Yesim Darici
FLOrlando2225208The University of Central Florida Board of TrusteesHSI Implementation and Evaluation Project: Enhancing Student Success in Engineering Curriculum through Active e-Learning and High Impact Teaching Practices With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 2: IEP aims to increase Hispanic/Latino transfer student success through the implementation and evaluation of innovative teaching/learning practices in engineering gateway courses. As a federally designated Hispanic Serving Institution, the University of Central Florida (UCF) is one of the leading transfer institutions in the nation. Based on admission articulated agreements with six community colleges in the Central Florida Region, transfer students are guaranteed access to high-quality bachelor’s degree programs at UCF. This transfer pathway has been used as an attractive conduit for many Hispanic/Latino students. However, the retention rates of transfer students are significantly lower than those of first-time in college students. In order to enhance Hispanic/Latino transfer students’ academic perseverance and success, a team of faculty members will work together to implement active learning and high-impact teaching practices in engineering foundation courses such as Statics, Dynamics, and Thermodynamics, including coordinated curriculum alignment efforts with partner community colleges. Students will be allowed to make mistakes and learn from their mistakes through multiple attempts, will be given opportunities to design, build, and test physical models through mini-projects, and will be provided flexible learning tools and an encouraging environment. As a result, this program will achieve a significant gain in Hispanic/Latino transfer students’ retention.

This program aims to increase Hispanic/Latino transfer student success through the implementation and evaluation of innovative teaching/learning practices. There is an almost equal distribution of students arriving at the University of Central Florida as first-time in college versus those transferring from another college. However, the retention rates between these groups show a very significant achievement gap. This project will focus on improving transfer students' initial experiences in engineering foundation courses in two large enrollment engineering majors –Mechanical Engineering and Aerospace Engineering. The project team will (1) embed self-regulated and shared learning in foundation courses by incorporating multiple attempts to practice tests and mini-projects at the early stage of engineering curricula, (2) construct a blended learning environment in order to facilitate student progress by providing flexibility, (3) guide students to tackle real-world engineering problems and tasks, and (4) utilize group participation and social interactions as an asset for their shared learning through team-based project activities. This project will investigate the changing nature of regulated learning, self-efficacy, and achievement goal orientation. This coordinated initiative will be used as a template for student success and shared with partner community colleges regionally via curriculum alignment meetings and other engineering programs nationally via conferences and journal publications. The program website will host exemplary mini-projects and make them available to students, educators, and the general public. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Hyoung Jin Cho
GAStatesboro1934255Georgia Southern University Research and Service Foundation, IncIPA Robert MayesRobert Mayes
GALawrenceville2314027Georgia Gwinnett CollegeIntergovernmental Personnel AwardSonal Dekhane
ILChicago1759566Northeastern Illinois UniversityHSI Conference: Catalyzing Progress in Undergraduate STEM Education with Insights from Midwestern HSIs A conference on enhancing undergraduate STEM education at Hispanic-Serving Institutions will be organized and hosted at Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) in Chicago, Illinois. The conference will attract participants from regional public two-year and four-year public and private Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) in the Midwest. The conference will weave together two intersecting threads: 1) Best practices in STEM pedagogy, and 2) HSI identity. A particular focus will be students' transition points and momentum points (academic achievements that tend to propel a student forward). These transition points include K-12 to college, two-year to four-year, four-year to graduate school, and military service to college. The conference was proposed in response to a Dear Colleague Letter (17-092 - Improving Undergraduate STEM Education in Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs)) issued by the National Science Foundation (NSF) calling for submission of conference proposals to inform the design of NSF's new Hispanic-Serving Institution program, to be established in fiscal year 2018.

Through keynote speakers, panels, workshops, lectures, and breakout sessions, the conference will integrate the two threads by exploring tested practices in STEM education and pedagogy, and identifying issues related to HSI identity, including opportunities, needs, and challenges faced by these institutions. The overarching goal of the conference will be to explore potential actionable solutions to challenges and opportunities in undergraduate STEM education at HSIs. By identifying best practices, novel pedagogical approaches, and diverse institutional strategies, as well as providing a medium to catalyze networking and collaborative initiatives among regional HSIs, the proposed conference will contribute in important ways to the enhancement and improvement of STEM educational activities. Participants will include institutional leaders, department chairs,
Laura Sanders
ILRiver Forest1832237Dominican UniversityLinkBuilding Capacity: The Dominican University STEM Success Model to Support Students through Critical Transitions The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program) aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims. This project will advance the aims of the HSI Program by implementing teaching and student support practices that can increase the success of undergraduates in early STEM courses. Research has shown that such early success can be crucial to student retention and long-term success in STEM fields, an issue of national interest. To promote success in introductory STEM college courses and support the transition from lower-division to upper-division coursework, the project will: (1) implement a STEM Summer Bridge program to prepare entering students for success in college-level STEM courses; and (2) transform first and second-year courses in biology, chemistry, and mathematics to promote engaged student learning and to enable diverse students to succeed in STEM fields.

This project aims to enhance the quality of undergraduate STEM education and to increase retention and graduation rates of undergraduate students pursuing STEM degrees. Each intervention will include three components: (1) peer-led team-learning approaches and course-embedded tutors to improve academic performance; (2) inclusive pedagogy to improve student course engagement and student-faculty relationships; and (3) supplementary support through a Student Success Case Manager who will connect students to university and community resources related to financial, social, or emotional challenges, and who will facilitate their academic success. Project activities are designed to provide first-generation and nontraditional college students with the academic, psychosocial, and community supports needed to succeed in STEM. To generate knowledge, the project will investigate the extent to which the summer bridge program, peer-led team-learning, inclusive pedagogy, and case management improve academic performance and persistence in the first year, and evaluate the impact on student relationships, sense of community, and the effectiveness of academic supports for at-risk students. The student body at Dominican University is 74% commuter, 51% Hispanic, 50% first generation to attend college, and 49% low income. This diversity is representative of nationwide demographic trends in higher education. Thus, evidence generated about the effectiveness of this project can have broad applicability for other colleges and universities.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Christopher Anderson
ILChicago1832421Northeastern Illinois UniversityLinkBuilding Capacity: Addressing Critical Transitions of First-Year STEM Students The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program) aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge about how to achieve these aims. This project at Northeastern Illinois University, an HSI, aims to increase retention of students by engaging them in a supportive, research-based learning community. This learning community will be called Agua en Comunidades Experimentales (ACE), which means Water in Research Communities. The ACE learning community will include social supports, scientific training, and research experiences related to water science. The project will evaluate the impact of the ACE learning community on student success in introductory STEM courses as well as student retention in STEM degree programs. By enhancing the preparation of students, the project seeks to increase the number of STEM-interested students who declare a STEM major and earn a baccalaureate degree in STEM.

The ACE learning community will create a longitudinal, four-year "home base" for students who enter college at the developmental level. This approach differs from the typical learning community model, which places student cohorts in the same set of courses offered during the first semester or first year of college. Other important aspects of the ACE learning community include its focus on research that has a societal and community benefit, and its embedding of academic supports within the curriculum. Northeastern Illinois University will work with other institutions to develop internship positions for ACE students and to create faculty development workshops to prepare faculty to mentor ACE students. The project seeks to develop a model that can be disseminated and adopted by multiple departments at Northeastern Illinois University, as well as by other institutions. The outcomes of the ACE learning community model will add to the evidence base about strategies and interventions to support the success of students, including low-income, first-generation, and underrepresented minority students. Quantitative and qualitative assessments will be conducted to identify best practices in building students' identities as scientists, and how their self-efficacy or confidence in STEM studies correlate with success rates in STEM courses. This information is important for producing a national STEM workforce that is highly capable and diverse.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Kenneth Voglesonger
ILChicago1832511Northeastern Illinois UniversityBuilding Capacity: Positive Learning Opportunities and Research Experiences to Promote Success in STEM The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program) aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge about how to achieve these aims. This project at Saint Xavier University will advance the aims of the HSI Program by increasing retention and graduation rates of undergraduates in STEM fields. To this end, the project will create a STEM Studio that will provide students with ongoing community, social, and academic supports. The STEM Studio will also serve as the hub for experiential learning opportunities and systemic faculty and peer mentoring of undergraduate students. Many high-impact educational experiences designed to broaden participation in STEM are directed at high-achieving and/or lower-achieving students. In contrast, this project will connect all students to high-impact educational experiences from which they are likely to show direct, measurable benefits. By addressing major challenges faced by many undergraduates majoring in STEM, Saint Xavier University expects to increase retention and graduation rates, which in turn will open doors to graduate level work and careers in STEM fields.

To achieve the overarching goal of improving retention and graduation rates, the project will implement four objectives: (1) create the STEM Studio to provide a gathering place for a community of Saint Xavier University scientific scholars; (2) centralize targeted academic support strategies for undergraduates in science courses at critical transition points; (3) provide opportunities for student-faculty collaborative research and for other high-impact learning experiences such as short-term field research; and (4) provide networking opportunities and curriculum enhancements that connect academic coursework to the workplace. Success of this program will be evaluated in terms of both persistence to degree and assessment of the institutional climate for inclusivity. The project will apply a multivariate statistical analysis to the collected data to identify correlations between the objectives, student perceptions of validation and belonging, and academic outcomes.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Julia Bingham Wiester
ILChicago1832553City Colleges of Chicago Wilbur Wright CollegeBuilding Capacity: Building Bridges into Engineering and Computer Science The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program) aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI program will also generate new knowledge about how to achieve these aims. This project at Wilbur Wright College will advance the aims of the HSI Program by enabling talented, underprepared, low-income students to pursue and complete a bachelor's degree in engineering or computer science. Public schools in urban areas struggle to prepare their large populations of low-income students in math and science. Thus, many high school graduates are not well prepared to pursue further education requiring quantitative or analytical thinking, or to join the US workforce in jobs demanding these skills. This project aims to develop and implement pathways, practices, and interventions to support student success in engineering or computer science at two critical transitions: from high school to community college, and from community college to four-year universities. The project plans to achieve this goal partly through streamlined connections between Wilbur Wright College, the Chicago Public schools, and public four-year colleges and universities in Illinois. The strategies developed and the knowledge produced in this project are expected to be significant to a broad segment of public education.

The project will be centered at Wilbur Wright College, an urban community college in the City Colleges of Chicago system. Wilbur Wright College is the largest federally recognized Hispanic-serving community college in Illinois. The project aims to build bridges across critical transitions by creating a Summer Bridge Camp to improve math skills and prepare incoming students for an engineering or computer science curriculum. It will also create a one-year engineering Gateway course to further strengthen students' math skills and self-efficacy. The project also aims to enhance practices that support the development of students' professional identity (i.e. the ability to see themselves as engineers or computer scientists), through faculty and near-peer mentoring, tutoring, intentional advising, engineering and computer science social events, and participation in professional meetings. The project will track students' semester-to-semester GPA, retention, transfer, graduation rates, and length of time to complete the associate's and bachelor's degrees. Self-efficacy and identity will be measured by an educational research professional. This project is expected to contribute to the national need for a diverse engineering and computer science workforce.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Doris Espiritu
ILChicago1928673University of Illinois at ChicagoMonarchs and Milkweeds: A Partnership to Develop a Integrated and Culturally Relevant Science Curriculum With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program, this Track 1 project aims to attract and retain more Latinx students in biology and chemistry by incorporating a culturally relevant theme into undergraduate STEM education. The Monarchs and Milkweeds Project seeks to develop a vertically integrated curriculum that spans from high school to lower- and upper-level college courses. The curriculum will focus on the biology, ecology, and chemistry of monarch butterflies and their principal food source, milkweed plants. Monarch butterflies overwinter in Mexico and return to the United States each year, and the symbolism of monarchs is prominent in some Latin cultures. Teachers and faculty from three Latinx-serving high schools, two 2-year colleges, and the University departments of biology and chemistry will collaboratively build learning activities, laboratory exercises, and other content based on the science of monarchs and milkweeds. The project also includes an intensive summer research experience in which students will investigate urban plant communities as habitat for monarchs and engage in community participatory science. The project expects to reach thousands of students, including hundreds of Latinx students, at participating high schools and colleges in the Chicago area. Further, the curriculum and related materials will be shared with other institutions, thus promoting incorporation of research experiences for students at other high schools, colleges, and universities.

Monarch larvae are specialist herbivores of milkweeds that sequester toxic steroids from milkweed plants as a defense against predators. Every fall they leave feeding grounds in the United States to overwinter in Mexico, a migration unmatched by any other insect. The complex relationship between monarchs and milkweeds spans scientific fields ranging from ecology to pharmacology and provides a rich case study to develop curriculum content in science classes from high school to upper-level university courses. The Monarchs and Milkweeds Project will focus on building learning activities, laboratory exercises, and other content based on the science of monarchs and milkweeds. Other components of the Monarchs and Milkweeds Project include an intensive summer research experience, community participatory science, dialogues to promote synergies between cultural and scientific knowledge, and opportunities for students to explore their identities as Latinx scientists. The Monarchs and Milkweeds Project aims to contribute to science education by creating new knowledge regarding improving outcomes for students in STEM, including Latinx students. The project will explore how culturally relevant content in biology and chemistry classes impacts interest in and the academic performance of Latinx students. Since all students in the courses will participate in the learning modules, the project seeks to disaggregate the impacts of integrated content versus cultural relevancy. The collaboration across urban public secondary and post-secondary education institutions will allow an assessment of the challenges and opportunities associated with designing a broad, culturally relevant science curriculum. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and to build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Mary Ashley
ILChicago2121693North Park UniversityHSI Implementation and Evaluation Project: Advancing the Reach and Scope of Supplemental Instruction With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 2 project focuses on increasing STEM student retention and success in entry-level courses at a Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) by expanding and adapting Supplemental Instruction (SI) to online learning environments. SI is a peer-facilitated academic support program consisting of regularly scheduled out-of-class collaborative learning sessions. There is growing demand for well-trained STEM professionals, but high rates of student attrition in introductory level science and engineering courses limit the number of STEM degrees awarded. Additionally, diversity and inclusion in STEM fields remains a major concern, with students from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds earning STEM degrees at levels well below rates of enrollment. SI participation is a positive predictor of higher grades and student success in introductory STEM courses, and interaction with SI leaders of diverse backgrounds has been shown to further benefit underrepresented student groups in these classes. This project will expand face-to-face and online SI offerings to make SI more accessible and beneficial to a diverse group of STEM students, including non-traditional and commuting students. In addition, the project will seek to expand SI leadership opportunities to traditionally underrepresented student groups.

The project aims to (1) determine the impact of the SI program on student retention and success in introductory science courses, and (2) determine the effect of the SI program on student’s metacognition, affective components of learning, and positive attitudes toward STEM education and STEM careers. This multi-year project will employ a variety of quantitative and qualitative research methods over a period of three successive fall academic terms. Findings will be compared among three student groups/ sets: those who attend required face-to-face SI sessions, those who attend required online SI sessions, and those for whom SI session attendance is optional. The research will provide insight into the effect of face-to-face and online SI implementations on student success, particularly among non-traditional and commuter student populations to whom face-to-face SI sessions may be less accessible. In addition, the project findings will contribute to best practices for successful adaptation of SI to online learning environments. Broader dissemination of the findings at national conferences and in peer-reviewed educational journals of respective STEM fields will allow participants to share insights and innovations with the growing community of STEM educators leveraging peer-facilitated learning models. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Matthew Van Duzor
ILChicago2122652University of Illinois at ChicagoInstitutional Transformation through Large-Scale Implementation of Departmental Action Teams This project aims to establish an institution-wide imperative to improve classroom climate, instructional quality, and degree pathways in all Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics departments at the University of Illinois-Chicago, a broad-access Hispanic-Serving Institution. Many institutional transformation efforts do not yield broad impact on an entire institution due to their focus on a single course or small cadre of teaching faculty. To accomplish institutional transformation at a large, decentralized university, the project will implement departmental action teams that involve over 100 faculty across the university who will investigate the barriers to student success in their classrooms with close attention to institutional data. Departmental action teams will develop and implement individual action plans to address identified barriers through curricular, instructional, and policy reforms. The work of these teams will be complemented by a campus-level initiative that disseminates high-quality faculty professional development with a concerted focus on helping faculty implement evidence-based inclusive teaching practices. Supported by the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this project will transform the university to achieve an inclusive and highly productive campus environment for both students and faculty that reflects an institutional culture where students see faculty as advocates for their success.

The goal of institutional transformation that lies at the heart of this project will present an opportunity to study both the efficacy of interventions proposed by the departmental action teams and the resulting institutional change processes. The project will contribute to theories of change in organizations in ways that have not been systematically studied in the context of a large, public, minority-serving research-extensive university. Project researchers will study the evolution of the change effort to identify barriers to change and strategies for overcoming those barriers as each department improves its capacity to deliver engaging and inclusive pedagogies by conducting a systematic analysis of the work of each team and the evolution of the teaching culture at UIC in response to project programming. Using surveys, observational protocols, and interviews, project researchers will produce an evidentiary basis for institutional transformation following a teleological theory of change. This will include demonstrating the unique and common change processes across multiple academic departments units at the same university and how those processes are facilitated or hindered at other institutional levels. Finally, the dissemination plan calls for the production of an online roadmap to provide guidelines for launching data-driven change efforts that are attentive to local contexts. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Mike Stieff
ILChicago2122665National-Louis UniversityPromoting Successful Outcomes for Diverse Computer Science Students through Mentored Professional Experiences This project will apply innovative approaches to professional mentoring and early workplace experiences to increase the success of diverse undergraduates in computer science programs. While the number of undergraduate computer science (CS) programs have skyrocketed over the past decade, the rates at which Black and Latinx students successfully complete CS degrees falls below the national average. Research points to the well-known ‘digital divide’ as a factor, with Latinx and Black youths less likely to have had computer science classes, or in some cases even extensive exposure to computers. Students from these groups who enter computer science programs report lower confidence in their abilities to succeed, which is often magnified by a sense that they do not belong in the field. This project addresses these issues by providing students with purposefully structured contact with CS worksites and professionals. With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) Program, National Louis University and industry partners will design and offer opportunities for mentored experiences in professional settings, with follow-up mentoring sessions to reinforce the experiences and provide continued encouragement and support. These experiences will take place in advance of senior internships, which can be students' first exposure to the realities of CS professions, providing early students with important tools and perspective to enrich their academic and professional experiences in the workforce. Computer science industry partners will be provided with training in culturally-responsive mentoring and will regularly meet to discuss their mentoring experiences and refine strategies. This partnership model will develop a cadre of STEM companies that have the commitment and capacity to support diverse STEM undergraduates as interns and early professionals, providing a model of rich university-to-workplace collaborations that can be replicated at a breadth of institutions.

This project explores the hypothesis that increasing students' early exposure to culturally-responsive professional experiences and increased participation in academic and external communities will strengthen their academic agency and improve academic outcomes. Academic agency is a student’s belief that they can be effective in their work and have the knowledge of strategies and resources needed to succeed. A mixed method research effort will study the development of academic agency as participants progress through the project’s mentored industry experiences. Training materials and other systems developed by the project team with industry and community partners will be shared widely, supporting replication of the project model at institutions nationwide. Over 300 undergraduates in computer science and information systems will participate in mentored industry experiences and an estimated 160 of those students will enter the workforce over the course of the project. Project alumni will be invited to share their perspectives and experiences at meetings with partners, which will support efforts to continuously improve the project activities and promote diversity in the STEM workforce. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Robyn Moncrief
MANeedham1764249Franklin W. Olin College of EngineeringCollaborative HSI Conference: Co-designing an engineering education research agenda The National Science Foundation Dear Colleague letter NSF 17-092: Improving Undergraduate STEM Education in Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) calls for conference proposals that will help identify challenges and opportunities in STEM education at Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs). Given the lack of resources that many engineering educators face attending conferences, this proposal consists of a series of traveling workshops that target engineering educators from HSIs. The focus on these workshops is to leverage design thinking methodologies to better understand the HSI institutional context and co-develop research need with educators through an iterative and emergent analysis process.

The two-day workshops will take place at the University of Texas at El Paso (PI institution) and the University of Miami (Coral Gables, FL). Texas and Florida have some of the highest concentration of HSIs in the country, and both locations are within a short driving distance to several 2-year and 4-year institutions considered HSIs. Pre-workshop activities will help participants establish a baseline understanding of the needs, values, cultures, and characteristics of participants and their home institutions. During the workshop, participants will be introduced to three educational approaches that will help them examine their own beliefs and contexts and develop
initial questions of interest about their institution, their students, and themselves as it relates to positively impacting the educational experiences of their students. The three approaches are Design Thinking, Intrinsic Motivation, and students as Empowered Agents. Using these ideas, participants will also develop a prototype of something they can try upon returning to their institution, and, through this prototyping process, they will continue to record emerging research questions and needs. A follow-up workshop at the ASEE Conference in June of 2018 will allow participants to share their reactions to their prototype experience. This workshop will also serve to disseminate and refine the resulting research agenda. The expected outcomes of this proposal are to produce (1) a set of research questions and needs to support the National Science Foundation?s development of an HSI-focused research agenda, (2) educational experiments and prototypes for dissemination within the conference community and (3) a conference-design framework for identifying non-obvious research needs and engaging educators in the engineering education
research and scholarship process.
Alexandra Strong
MAHolyoke2122723Holyoke Community CollegeHSI Implementation and Evaluation Project: Western MA Engineering Pathways Program With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 2 project called The Western MA Engineering Pathways Program, will contribute to the national need for a diverse engineering workforce by supporting the recruitment, retention, graduation, and transfer of underrepresented students in engineering programs at Holyoke Community College (HCC), the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and Western New England University (WNEU). Over a four-year period, the project will identify students from partners Holyoke High School and Westfield High School who express an interest in engineering, develop and test innovative interventions, and support students along the academic pathway. Early engagement with engineering concepts and ongoing comprehensive student supports will bolster STEM identity, self-efficacy, and self-confidence among traditionally underrepresented students in the field. The Western MA Engineering Pathways Program has three goals: 1) Create improved pathways to broaden the participation of students historically underrepresented in engineering, 2) Revitalize HCC’s engineering programs to be more responsive to a diverse student body and to regional employer demands, and 3) Produce fundamental research on building an effective pathway for targeted students in the Western Massachusetts that can be implemented and sustained in a way that is replicable nationally. With support from project partners at the Collaborative for Educational Services, the Society for Women Engineers (SWE), and the 50K Coalition, project activities will attract and retain more students in engineering, especially students who identify themselves as women, Latinx, or from other historically marginalized groups. The proposed project will investigate the differences between the experiences and decisions surrounding engineering education for women, Latinx students, and students with multiple marginalized identities (MMI) in undergraduate engineering education. Research questions will determine how high school and community college students make decisions around pursuing undergraduate engineering education; the ways in which Latinx and female students, especially those with MMI, differ in their decision-making process from their peers; how institutional changes made to address the needs of Latinx students, especially those with MMI, improve their outcomes and those of other undergraduate engineering students; and how equitable pathway design can be used to shift stakeholders’ foci from institutional outcomes to student-centered outcomes.

Findings from this project will support equity and inclusion efforts at each partnership institution and will guide efforts at other Hispanic-Serving Institutions seeking to increase Latinx contributions to the future of engineering. The project team will work with the 50k Coalition to share promising practices and STEM education research findings on a national scale. Improved connection and interaction with local industry will provide employers with a voice in preparing future engineers and increasing diversity in their workforce. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Gordon Snyder 
MDWhite Plains2037515GPRA Strategic Management, Inc.PLUS ME: A Novel Professional Development Approach for HBCU STEM Faculty The Historically Black Colleges and Universities – Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) is designed to enhance the quality of both undergraduate STEM education and research at HBCUs to broaden participation in the nation's STEM workforce. As such, HBCU-UP provides support to principal investigators who are committed to meeting the nation's accelerating demands for STEM talent through a number of priority areas, including, increased research capacity of STEM faculty and evidence-based leadership and professional development of faculty. Fielding Graduate University, in collaboration with GPRA Strategic Management, Inc., addresses the HBCU-UP’s priority of supporting leadership and professional development of HBCU faculty. More specifically, the PIs’ project seeks to establish a leadership program that supports HBCU and HSI women of color in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields.

The project (1) gives rise to a leadership development curriculum that attends to the projected changes in leadership development; (2) generates a safe, brave leadership development space for diverse academic STEM leaders; and (3) addresses a national imperative for leadership that gives rise to better broadening participation outcomes. It focuses on nurturing publishing habits, culturally authentic leadership, and sources of wellbeing, for leaders at the intersection of race and gender. The project utilizes a CHAT (Cultural-Historic Activity Theory) evaluative framework to study changes in leader self-efficacy in individual participants while examining enhanced capacity of participants to collectively lead reform in STEM higher education. It will create a leadership development model that will enhance the norms and traditions of conventional leadership training practices to effect broadening participation in the administrative ranks of higher education. This project not only implements a novel leadership development approach that meets STEM women of color at their level of need, but it also confronts the overarching ecosystem of STEM higher education at its own level of need. By considering implementation of safe, brave spaces, the PIs will create a novel leadership development model that easily crosses into and permeates the norms and traditions of mainstream STEM higher education – advancing and accelerating our nation’s broadening participation agenda to unprecedented levels of success.

This project is supported in part by the NSF’s Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), that aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Additional funding was provided by the NSF’s Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) program. AGEP supports research and collaborative partnerships to increase the number of faculty in STEM who are African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Native Pacific Islanders.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Carmen Rivera
NJCranford1832425Union County CollegeLinkBuilding Capacity: Infusing Research as Pedagogy The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program) aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims. This project at Union County College will advance the aims of the HSI Program by integrating research into undergraduate STEM courses. The project plans to embed course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) into STEM gateway courses, support independent research experiences during the academic year, and develop a summer research academy. The project aims to provide students with research opportunities that increase student engagement, critical thinking skills, retention and graduation rates, and transfer into a STEM major at a four-year institution. Union County College has an economically, racially, and ethnically diverse student body. Consequently, this project can contribute to building a diverse STEM workforce.

The project will examine how research opportunities may increase student engagement, critical thinking skills, student retention and graduation, and transfer into a baccalaureate STEM program. The project includes three coordinated interventions: 1) integrating course-based research into eight STEM gateway courses; 2) supporting independent student-driven research experiences; and 3) creating a summer research academy. These interventions will incorporate student-driven research into the curriculum, enhancing the traditional community college learning experience. The project will assess the impact of research experiences by comparing baseline and post-intervention populations using the Critical-Thinking Assessment Test instrument. In each of the three interventions, the project will use this instrument to determine critical thinking skills at the beginning and completion of the interventions. Students will also be tracked to examine retention in the major. Finally, data will be collected on student performance including grades, enrollment in STEM courses, and graduation and transfer rates. To examine the impact of CURES, a comparison will be made between students who participate in the CURES and baseline data for STEM majors. Students in the academic year research projects and research academy will be compared to students who did not participate, as well as to the college's baseline data. It is anticipated that the project may serve as a model for both two- and four-year institutions seeking to develop a research as pedagogy curriculum model to build critical thinking skills.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Faraz Siddique
NJJersey City1832464St Peter's UniversityLinkBuilding Capacity: STEM Transformative Experiences Project The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program) aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI program will also generate new knowledge about how to achieve these aims. This project at Saint Peter's University will advance the aims of the HSI Program by providing 45 high-impact, off-campus internship experiences each year to low income undergraduate students who are pursuing STEM degrees. Low income students can face financial barriers that restrict participation in co-curricular internships, as well as cultural and academic barriers that can lower self-efficacy and self-identity as a scientist when participating in such experiences. To help students overcome these barriers, the project will place students into STEM internships and provide coordinated mentoring from a triad of mentors (a STEM faculty member, the STEM internship coordinator, and the internship supervisor). The project will develop, implement, assess, and evaluate the three major project components: (1) partnerships with non-academic STEM institutions; (2) the triad mentor networks; and (3) professional development activities to improve mentorship. Expected project outcomes include increased student awareness of STEM careers, increased student identity as a STEM practitioner, and contribution of the experience to students' long-term career trajectories. The internship and triad mentoring experiences are predicted to improve student workplace performance and support sustainable partnerships between the university and non-academic STEM institutions.

This project will implement an iterative, design-based research model to create faculty workshops, identify limitations based on the collected data, and modify workshops as needed. This design and improve process may provide a deeper understanding of how to effectively support faculty and students in mentored STEM internships, particularly for students from groups that are underrepresented in science. This research will be informed by data produced from a combination of surveys, interviews, and focus groups specifically targeting (1) barriers to success, (2) alignment between perspectives of students and mentors, and (3) academic deficiencies related to internships. During the project, both the academic and cultural results of project assessment and evaluation will be used to improve project activities. These findings have the potential to provide a design framework for effective mentoring of low-income STEM students to improve retention, to elevate their career aspirations, and to improve job placement. This project will also contribute to the knowledge base on high-impact, deliberative active learning.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Jeanette Wilmanski
NJUnion1928452Kean UniversityBuilding Capacity: Pathway to Success for Students and Faculty in Computing With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 projects aims to increase the retention and completion rates of students majoring in computer science (CS) and information technology (IT). This project at Kean University will develop a model for CS and IT education by providing curriculum support for critical early transition points in the majors, along with innovative faculty development to improve undergraduate CS and IT teaching and learning success and improve degree completion rates. Student interventions, including cohort community development, supplemental instruction and undergraduate research groups, will be uniquely coupled with faculty training in growth mindset, hypothesized as culminating in collective impact for increased student retention, superior career preparation, and persistence to graduation. Outcomes from this project will include contributions to educational pedagogy in computer science, faculty development methods, and identification of early intervention techniques for improving student academic success, leading to a larger, more diverse community of graduates.

The project seeks to prepare students from diverse populations to enter the STEM workforce or graduate school as highly trained individuals, with training experiences in teamwork and research. The project will assess the impact of reinforcement for students, including those who have met the minimum expectation for progression in the major and those who may have a higher probability of not thriving in the major. To address consistencies in student experiences and course content, the project will revise the first three courses in the computer science sequence. Materials from the Computing Alliance for Hispanic-Serving Institutions (CAHSI, an NSF INCLUDES Alliance) and Google on thinking, problem solving, and algorithmic thinking will be integrated into the revised computer science courses. The project will also develop engagement materials, provide supplemental instruction, advisement and career building activities to aid students as they progress through critical transitions in the computer science curriculum. For incoming first-year students, the project will develop an orientation to provide CS and IT majors familiarity with the curriculum and the faculty. The project will investigate the impact of the project activities on the retention in the CS and IT majors, as well as student academic performance. Research methods will employ qualitative and quantitative data collection from students and faculty, including climate data surveys. Collected data will be analyzed to determine how participation in cohort communities, pre-professional career activities, and research groups changes students' computing identity perceptions, interest, persistence and growth in the discipline. The results from this project seek to provide evidence-based activities that other institutions may adopt on effective strategies on how to effectively enhance student success in the CS and IT majors, and in particular, for underrepresented students. The project will disseminate its findings through academic venues including the CAHSI and the NSF INCLUDES National Network. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HIS program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Patricia Morreale
NJMontclair1953631Montclair State UniversityLinkPartnered Internships: Including Families, Faculty, and Industry in STEM Education to Improve Success in STEM Career Pathways With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 project aims to provide a greater understanding of the impact of family support on outcomes for STEM majors, particularly from underrepresented groups (URGs). We hypothesize that the proposed project will contribute to the development of a diverse workforce by exposing URGs to real-world STEM problems through successful cross-sector partnerships with corporations and organizations. With this project, which deeply involves faculty and students’ families, we will investigate how cultural and social networks created from cross-sector partners support student success. We will examine how to form meaningful partnerships between faculty research mentors, external internship supervisors, and families to support student retention in STEM academic programs and sense of belonging in STEM careers. The findings will be disseminated and guide other institutions in best practices in involving families in STEM students’ academic and professional activities. Improving the outcomes of URG students in STEM is essential as the need for STEM professionals will continue to increase and diverse workforces are more creative and more productive. To improve sense of inclusion, we place students on diverse teams. Most research and innovation in STEM is conducted by teams, which have been proven to have better problem-solving skills when diverse. Institutions of higher education, including HSIs, will benefit from tools that result in optimal outcomes for URG STEM majors.

Developing a new framework for promoting success among URGs in STEM fields may well change the trajectory for successful outcomes for students. Understanding what changes to make to the framework is essential. Our work will contribute to this understanding. This project will use surveys, focus groups, and interviews to study how cultural and social norms among Hispanic populations promote or inhibit student interest in specific career pathways, and if, or how, family norms support (or detract from) student persistence and graduation. A new STEM family survey instrument will be developed, validated and disseminated. The findings will reveal best practices in balancing any STEM-negative influences, educating families on STEM and STEM careers, and involving family members in students’ academic and professional trajectories. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (2015) data tells us that URGs are underrepresented in STEM fields. Further, demand for individuals in STEM career pathways continues to grow. This project will help guide and inform institutions of higher education in the design of programs that build on the enrollment gains from URGs and support students to persist, graduate, and enter STEM fields. Research into strategies that support improved persistence and graduation rates are essential to satisfying the unmet demand for STEM-focused, trained professionals. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Amy Tuininga
NJVineland1953653Rowan College of South Jersey -- Cumberland CampusUsing Interconnected Career Pathways and Success Coaching to Enhance Student Success in STEM With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program, this Track 1 project seeks to improve the success of students in STEM fields. It will do so by developing a regional model of culturally inclusive STEM career pathways that span from high school to STEM careers. The pathways will focus especially on careers in cybersecurity and mechatronics/engineering, which have high workforce demands and offer well-paying career pathways. This STEM career pathways model will be designed to enhance relationship-oriented student supports and coaching to help students across critical transitions, such as the transition from high school to college. It is expected that these supports will result in increased success rates among STEM students, particularly students from Hispanic or low-income populations. The project will also support improvements in STEM curricula, implementation of high-impact practices such as active learning, and access to research and work-based learning experiences. By enhancing the STEM learning experience, the project seeks to increase enrollment, retention rates, two- and four-year degree completion rates, and career placement of students. The project seeks to generate effective practices for designing a STEM career pathway model and will share its findings with the broader higher education community.

The project aims to generate new knowledge about how to enhance student success in STEM by defining career pathways and supporting students in those pathways. By embedding transfer program pathways in cybersecurity and mechatronics/engineering, the project will enhance opportunities for students to enter the STEM workforce in these fields. Project goals are to: 1) Increase retention, credit-hour accumulation, graduation, and STEM career entry outcomes; 2) Increase engagement of students, including Hispanic and low-income students, in course-based undergraduate research and experiential learning through cross-sector partnerships; 3) Improve academic and career outcomes for students through innovative STEM teaching and learning strategies and curricular models. The project evaluation includes a quasi-experimental impact study to examine results by comparing outcomes for cohort and non-cohort students, enabling assessment of differential outcomes between groups. Mid-project outcome-trend reports, as well as the post-grant impact study, will be disseminated via presentations at STEM conferences, publications, and outreach to non-NSF funded HSIs. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Veronica Chainey
NJJersey City2142330New Jersey City UniversityBuilding Capacity to Develop Community-Engaged STEM Learning as an Institutional Transformative Mechanism This project aims to serve the national interest by integrating STEM learning with community-oriented problem solving, evidence-based decision making, critical thinking, and the development of civic duties. The project plans to build institutional capacity to create an immersive environment of community-engaged learning (CEL) and to transform STEM education. Working collaboratively with community partners, students will use their knowledge and skills in STEM fields to address issues facing many minority communities, particularly inequity issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic and post-pandemic rejuvenation of affected communities. This project will directly tackle the challenges faced by minority and other underserved students, including food insecurity and mental health issues, to enhance their resilience, confidence, and persistence to succeed in STEM fields. The project will have a positive impact on minority and immigrant communities in areas of health and healthcare disparity, environmental and nutritional inequity, social justice, and equal rights.

The project will engage an interdisciplinary team of STEM faculty, social scientists, and student affairs staff to provide students with an immersive environment through CEL courses in both STEM and humanities, arts, and social science (HASS) fields, which will lead to sustained change and a powerful advancement in STEM education. Interdisciplinarity will be a key component in this project, as the HASS courses will allow students to understand complex societal and community issues as they apply STEM knowledge to address those issues. The STEM solutions will be placed in the social and cultural contexts of the communities. The objectives of this project include 1) to create an immersive CEL environment at NJCU that offers broad CEL-focused courses and curricula in STEM and HASS to transform the student experience in undergraduate STEM education; 2) to build a holistic support system to empower faculty, students, and communities to embrace CEL and bolster students’ success in STEM; 3) to promote NJCU as a prominent “steward of place” that benefits and contributes to the minority communities with scientific and evidence-based approaches to meet the community needs; and 4) to conduct research on interdisciplinarity and community-institution partnership, establishing evidence-based best practices for CEL and catalyzing sustainable transformation across the university and surrounding communities. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Institutional and Community Transformation track, the program supports efforts to transform and improve STEM education across institutions of higher education and disciplinary communities. This project is also supported by the NSF IUSE: HSI program, which seeks to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Yufeng Wei
NJBloomfield2150203Bloomfield CollegeInterventions to Improve Academic Performance of Biology Majors at Bloomfield College With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track1: Pilot PPP aims to improve the academic performance of first-year biology students at Bloomfield College, promote their retention, and ultimately, their graduation rates, which will in turn contribute to the development of a diverse, globally competitive STEM workforce. Approximately 30% of students enrolled as Biology majors at Bloomfield College self-identify as Hispanic. Only half of all first-year biology majors go on to complete a second year and only one-third graduate with a degree in biology. Furthermore, the 4- and 6-year graduation rates for Hispanic students are approximately half of that of other ethnicities. Therefore, this project will develop and implement interventions to support first-year students at two specific points in their college careers: during the transition from high school to college and during the first year of college. Specifically, incoming first-year students will participate in a week-long intensive Biology Summer Enrichment Program (Bio-SEP), a Peer Coaching and Tutoring Program, and participate in Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) during their first year at the college. The project will allow us to assess the impact of specific interventions on the academic performance and retention of first-year biology majors who have risk factors known to prevent graduation: being a first-generation college student, coming from a low-income family, and belonging to a minority group.

The project has two specific objectives: 1) to ease the transition from high school to college and prepare incoming Biology first-year students for the rigors of college work and 2) to support students’ academic performance and integration into the college while encouraging them to develop self-efficacy and their identity as biologists. Bio-SEP will give incoming first-year students a jumpstart on the content of the first-semester biology curriculum, teach them essential college study and social skills, and introduce them to faculty, staff, current students, peer coaches, and biology alumni. A faculty member will coordinate and lead trained peer coaches to deliver academic and social support via the Peer Coaching and Tutoring Program. In addition, students will participate in interdisciplinary CUREs delivered as laboratory modules in first-year introductory biology and chemistry courses. CUREs are well documented to help students develop confidence in their ability to perform basic scientific procedures, and increase their sense of belonging to the wider scientific community. The program outcomes will be evaluated continuously by monitoring grades, retention rates, and GPAs of all biology students who are impacted by the proposed interventions. Students’ developing attitudes towards science will be evaluated using nationally benchmarked pre-and post-course surveys. Assessing the impact of these interventions will provide us with new knowledge about how to enhance undergraduate biology education and how to build capacity at our College. Ultimately, it will enable us to prepare our biology students to compete in, and contribute to a more diverse and capable STEM workforce. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Tammy Castro
NJTeaneck2225211Fairleigh Dickinson UniversityHSI Pilot Project: STEM Undergraduate, Retention, Graduation, and Engagement (SURGE) With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 Pilot Project aims to transform how STEM is delivered at Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) and change the STEM culture. Despite the abundance of STEM literature on Hispanic students, their persistence is alarmingly low. An internal self-assessment prepared by the SURGE team identified four STEM deficiencies, along with four institutional strengths. Based on this assessment, the team proposes three SURGE strategies that leverage institutional strengths. The team recognizes the need for institutional change to improve outcomes. As a result, SURGE will implement transformational and reorganizational changes that include 1) a dedicated area conducive to STEM learning, 2) academic support programs, 3) gateway courses that have been revised to include evidence-based pedagogies and practices, 4) an advisor network of faculty, staff, and peers, 5) paid research opportunities, 6) workshops on “STEM awareness”, 7) peer tutors, and 8) virtual learning programs. Through SURGE, students at FDU will experience a STEM environment more conducive to learning. The data will benefit urban institutions with similar student demographics, faculty teaching loads, and resources.

SURGE will 1) launch a STEM Academic Center, 2) provide faculty with evidence-based, pedagogical, and cultural awareness workshops, and 3) implement research initiatives for STEM majors. These objectives will address three research questions: 1) How does each facet of SURGE improve Hispanic STEM students’ learning, retention, graduation, desire to attend graduate school, and interest in a STEM career? 2) Which activities are best aligned with increasing diversity in STEM and foundational elements required to build and sustain institutional capacity at FDU? And 3) Do non-cognitive and cultural barrier workshops improve Hispanic STEM students’ relationship with their faculty advisors and “STEM awareness”? Student interviews, experiences, surveys, and focus groups will be used to construct an evolving data-driven model which identifies limitations, and inefficiencies in SURGE. The team will ensure all data is thoroughly analyzed and used to contribute new knowledge on which high-impact activities 1) build institutional capacity to support STEM majors, 2) generate evidence to support program success and replicability, and 3) transform FDU through institutionalization of successful program components. SURGE will develop the capacity to impact 500 students through STEM workshops, award stipends to 46 STEM majors, and provide 30 STEM faculty with evidence-based and cultural barrier workshops. SURGE will improve the persistence of STEM majors through STEM engagement, and these students who are positively impacted by SURGE will disseminate “STEM awareness” to their peers. This “domino effect” design of SURGE is deliberate and is intended to have a lasting impact on the STEM culture at FDU. This data will benefit urban institutions with similar student demographics, faculty teaching loads, and resources. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Christian Traba
NJUnion2247157Kean UniversityFostering Communities of Practice Through Research and Peer Mentoring This project aims to develop a national model for STEM education at Hispanic-Serving Institutions that engages all members of the university community. Central to this effort is the development of a “Scholars Academy,” a cohort-based program to support undergraduate students with peer mentoring, undergraduate research opportunities, and additional support. The academy is designed to improve undergraduate success, particularly for Hispanic students. The project will address a number of well documented challenges to undergraduate student success, including the fact that Hispanic STEM students persist in STEM at a lower rate than their non-Hispanic peers. Communities of Practice (CoPs) – groups of people who share a common concern and work and learn together – will be developed among students, faculty, and administrators to ensure longer term retention of students and create institutional transformation by sustaining best practices. Through this project, Kean will increase the number of faculty engaging in research with undergraduates, and who are also trained in culturally responsive mentoring. These practices are intended to increase student retention, job readiness, and improve participants' sense of belonging.

Key to this Scholars Academy will be three CoPs fostered as part of the project activities. To foster these communities, activities will be implemented based on smaller programs already piloted in two academic units at Kean. The first such activity is to build a community of student scholars, and meet the needs of students during critical attrition points, by offering a STEM major-specific version of the "Transition to Kean” first-year seminar. First- and second-year courses with high D, F, and withdrawal (DFW) rates will be targeted for supplemental instruction using peer-mentoring and peer-led team learning. Secondly, students will engage in small faculty-led research teams using the Computing Alliance for Hispanic Serving Institutions’ (CAHSI) Affinity Research Group model, with progress over multiple years and mentoring by senior-level students. A third activity involves implementing signature practices from CAHSI and Kean’s Center for Teaching and Learning to provide a variety of faculty professional development experiences aimed at enhancing advising and faculty pedagogy. A fourth and final activity is to form a team of faculty and administrators who will participate in an institutional transformation CoP that will help the project iteratively improve and institutionalize key project components. Project research will generate new knowledge on the effectiveness of the project's main interventions and what mechanisms supported the persistence and institutionalization of specific practices. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs that are supported by this program.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
David Joiner
NMLas Cruces1832338New Mexico State UniversityLinkResource Hub: The NSF National Resource Hub for STEM Education at Hispanic-Serving Institutions The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program) aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims. This collaborative project at New Mexico State University, Dona Ana Community College, and California State University, Northridge, will advance the aims of the HSI Program by establishing the NSF National Resource Hub for STEM Education at Hispanic-Serving Institutions. This HSI Resource Hub will help HSIs develop the strategies and processes to obtain the resources needed to improve the quality and outcomes of undergraduate STEM education. It will also support efforts to build institutional capacity for advancing the STEM careers of students and faculty at HSIs. The HSI Resource Hub aims to achieve these goals by building a national network of all HSIs; providing training, mentorship, and peer review to improve grant-writing practices; enabling institutions to identify and fill gaps in their capacity to obtain funding, and to develop administrative tools for conducting STEM research; providing training on diversity, equity, and inclusion issues relevant to STEM education; and disseminating resources that support evidence-based, inclusive teaching practices that increase student retention and graduation. This project has the potential to advance knowledge about how to enhance undergraduate STEM education, how to build research capacity, and how to obtain resources for these efforts, at HSIs and other institutions.

The HSI Resource Hub aspires to reach the more than 450 HSIs in the US, with special focus on including those institutions that have received little or no prior NSF support. The project aims to build HSI collaborations that can support existing STEM research, increase STEM research capacity, and encourage implementation of leading-edge pedagogy in STEM education. Regional conferences, workshops, online networking platforms, certifications, and a mini-grant program for junior faculty will support broad participation and enhance professional expertise in writing effective grant proposals. Gap analysis and collaborations will help HSIs identify and develop the infrastructure needed to manage successful STEM research and education projects. Evaluation of the HSI Resource Hub will use quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methodologies to provide data that will guide and refine the project throughout the funding period. The HSI Resource Hub activities and outcomes will be disseminated through a dedicated website, conference presentations, workshops, newsletters, publications, and social media. By uniting HSIs across the nation, the HSI Resource Hub is expected to have positive impacts on increasing the degree completion rates of students pursuing STEM degrees, thus enhancing the diversity of the US STEM workforce.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Elba Serrano
NMAlbuquerque1928368Central New Mexico Community College"Developing Meaningful Mathematics for Student Success Through a Collaboration Between Community College and High School Faculty" With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program, this Track 2 project aims to enhance student success in mathematics by developing a year-long dual-credit College Algebra/College Readiness Skills course. More than half of the students entering Central New Mexico Community College place into developmental mathematics courses, which can set STEM majors back in their degree progression by up to two years. The College Algebra/College Readiness Skills Course will be designed to support student success in Algebra, enabling students to enter calculus, a required course for many STEM majors. The College Algebra/College Readiness Skills Course will be designed by a professional learning community that includes high school and college mathematics faculty. The Course will be offered to high school seniors and to Central New Mexico Community College students, with the aim of enhancing student success in the transition to college-level mathematics course work. By participating in the professional learning community, college faculty will also gain insight about how to provide a better learning experience for first-year students. By better preparing students for success in college algebra courses, the project has the potential to support an increase in the number of students who successfully pursue STEM degrees.

The project seeks to enhance college readiness and completion of college algebra. This goal will be accomplished through collaborative development of a contextualized College Algebra/College Readiness Skills Course by mathematics faculty at Central New Mexico Community College, Albuquerque High School, and South Valley Academy High School. The faculty will identify how to improve students' mastery of mathematics and increase students' development of the skills needed to be successful in college STEM courses. By building on the knowledge of high school and college mathematics teachers, the Course may better equip students for successful transfer into the community college, as well as provide a novel link between the collaborating institutions. The project will investigate the following research questions: (1) How does the Professional Learning Community affect teaching practices? (2) In what ways does curricular inclusion of college readiness and a contextualized approach to mathematics prepare students to succeed in subsequent college-level STEM courses? and (3) Does the College Algebra/College Readiness Course improve student success in first-year college STEM and mathematics courses? To address these questions, the project will use quantitative and qualitative data, including student academic performance in mathematics and other STEM courses, and data from focus groups. The cross-institutional professional learning community infrastructure may be a replicable model for other institutions that seek to enhance the transition of students in the first year of college mathematics and other STEM courses. Project outcomes will be shared both regionally and nationally through conference presentations, and the curricula will be shared through an open-access, online platform. The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Gangadhar Acharya
NMAlbuquerque1928720University of New MexicoUsing Targeted Constructivist Instructional Modules to Increase Undergraduate Students' Confidence, Knowledge, and Skills in Mathematics With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program, this Track 2 project will develop constructivist instructional modules that help students learn mathematics through interdisciplinary, open-ended mathematical problems. Teaching mathematics via a constructivist approach may not only help students learn mathematical concepts and skills, but also gain confidence in doing mathematics. By increasing student success in mathematics, this project seeks to increase the number of students enrolling in STEM degree programs. Many students in open-access colleges need support to develop the mathematics knowledge and skills needed to progress in a STEM program. This project seeks to identify the key mathematical concepts and skills needed for success in both college mathematics courses and in the workforce. The project will develop stand-alone instructional modules that teach mathematical topics through active student engagement in mathematics. Since each instructional module will be complete and independent, the modules have the potential to complement lower-level mathematics courses in a variety of instructional settings.

The project seeks to increase the number of declared pre-STEM majors persisting into credit-bearing STEM courses. The project will complete a pilot test to design constructivist instructional modules that both develop mathematical concepts and reinforce application skills needed for success in subsequent mathematics courses. The modules will include open-ended problems and activities that require students to justify and present solutions, which are also skills desired by potential employers. The project will assess the impact of the constructivist instructional modules and associated support activities on student learning outcomes and course completions. The project will also investigate the impact of the modules and support activities on the ability for students to apply mathematical knowledge in new situations. The project seeks to develop materials that could be shared with other institutions seeking to enhance student learning and completion of lower-level mathematics courses. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Colin Nicholls
NMAlbuquerque1953349University of New MexicoExpanding Undergraduate Research Participation in General Education Courses to Improve STEM Persistence and Graduation Rates With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program, this Track 1 project aims to build capacity for and broaden early participation in undergraduate research. It will do so by implementing and testing a sequence of course-based undergraduate research experiences designed to enable more undergraduates to participate in STEM research. Undergraduate research has been linked to increased student persistence, improved graduation rates, increased STEM content mastery, and enhanced science identity. These positive effects of undergraduate research experiences are even more pronounced for students from populations typically underrepresented in STEM. In many institutions, demand for undergraduate research experiences exceeds available opportunities. As a result, the experiences may be biased toward students who enter college with the knowledge and skills needed to do research. Participation can be limited for students who are not yet “research-ready,” including students from under-resourced high schools. This project will involve multiple STEM disciplines and engage in institution-wide changes: nearly 100 instructors will embed research experiences into more than 85 sections of general education courses that will serve more than 5,000 students over the course of the project. Information from implementing and studying this research infusion will increase understanding about how to: a) improve instruction and learning outcomes in STEM general education courses; b) improve student pathways to research engagement; c) leverage undergraduate research to more strategically improve persistence and academic attainment for students underrepresented in STEM professions; and d) provide a lower-cost, yet still effective, method for introducing more students to the value and key concepts of scientific research. It is expected that increasing access to undergraduate research will strengthen instruction in introductory courses, increase the diversity of student researchers, and result in improved college graduation rates in STEM fields.

This project will address deficiencies in the state of knowledge about undergraduate student education by comparing outcomes of complete undergraduate research experiences to incremental undergraduate research experiences embedded in general education and portal STEM courses. The project team will use demographic and student educational records to measure the impact of multiple levels of research engagement on different student populations. In addition, the research team will develop and refine a new metric to measure student transitions from lower to upper division courses. Key research questions that will be addressed include: How do additional levels of undergraduate research engagement impact learning, self-perceptions, and behavior, in comparison to full research engagement? To what extent can these introductory levels be leveraged to expand the number of undergraduate research experiences, and to create more inclusive pathways to full research? Which student populations are most likely to benefit from the different levels of research engagement, and from each of the instructional mechanisms and activities? How can Hispanic-Serving Institutions more accurately measure lower division to upper division transition in order to identify students in most need of intervention? The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
James Holloway
NMLas Cruces1953466New Mexico State UniversityCombing Andragogy and Pedagogy to Help First Generation, Low Income Students Succeed in Engineering Using Methods and Principles of Adult Learning to Help First-Generation, Low-Income Students Succeed in Engineering

With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Innovative Cross-Sector Partnership project aims to foster upward social mobility by improving the rate at which first-generation students from low-income families graduate with an engineering degree. Persistently low graduation rates lessen the impact that universities play in facilitating social mobility. Hispanic Serving Institutions are well-equipped to improve access to college opportunities for first generation students, students from underrepresented groups, and students from low-income families, but often struggle to make math, science, and engineering curriculums relevant. Current engineering education practice does not adequately engage with industry to give students professional motivation, skills, and certifications. This leaves many low-income, first- generation students uncertain as to how their education relates to their current and future economic security. Less than half of engineering majors finish with engineering degrees that would qualify them for high paying jobs and technical careers. This project will focus on mentoring, career readiness, industry-accepted certifications to augment the engineering curriculum through engagement in flexible learning communities. Industry partnerships, innovative intervention strategies, and research findings will be used to foster STEM-identity and student’s understanding, appreciation and interest in STEM, known indicators for first-generation STEM degree completion. Anticipated outcomes of the project include an engaged community of career-ready advanced student learners supported by evidence-based intervention strategies, industry partners, and university faculty and staff prepared to contribute to their success. Approximately 800 students will be directly supported in the industry-mentored, adult learning experiences. The 5-year goal is to increase the graduation rate in engineering for first-generation college students and those from low-income households by 50%. The innovative partnership with industry to prepare students and help them acquire certifications will show first generation students and their families that real-world skills are valued by the university, and that they are achieving important milestones each year of their higher education (not just at the end). Higher (engineering) education in the US is being pulled in different directions to balance critical, reflective, and deep thinkers while providing tangible skills. By acknowledging this tension and building curriculum maps that intentionally blend the two directions, this project and partnerships will promote a new path to satisfying societal needs based on the unique attributes of Hispanic Serving Institutions.

The project will test how andragogical (adult) learning methods, implemented in collaboration with industry, is linked to persistence within a traditional engineering curriculum at a majority-minority Hispanic Serving Institution. This study will follow students longitudinally to investigate how cross-sector collaborations influence educational outcomes and occupational success. Surveys will be used to investigate how activities that balance and blend andragogy and pedagogy contribute to student persistence by promoting the growth of engineering identity and professional confidence. Early results from the research will be used to integrate adult and industry-mentored learning into materials such as curriculum maps, catalog descriptions, websites, and student advising software. Continuous assessment of the outcomes will contribute to engineering education knowledge and stimulate discussion on how institutions can utilize learning communities and industry partnerships to improve the retention and subsequent social mobility for first generation, low income students. In addition to publications and conferences, project generated resources and findings will be dissemination through the HSI Resource Hub, a network of more than 450 HSIs, including those that receive little or no prior NSF support. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Patricia Sullivan
NMLas Vegas1953487New Mexico Highlands UniversityDeveloping and Studying a Research Experience Pathway to Improve Undergraduate Life Sciences Education at a Rural Hispanic Serving Institution With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 project aims to increase persistence of life sciences majors through the critical transition from lower to upper division coursework. The project is led by New Mexico Highlands University, a rural Hispanic Serving Institution. Reflecting national trends, this university notes significant loss of students early in their college years. These loses may result in part from incompletely understood psychosocial factors that affect first-year college students’ decisions to pursue and persist in STEM majors. To help fill this knowledge gap, the project team will examine how students’ science identity, sense of belonging, and science self-efficacy affects their educational decisions. The project aims to increase student success through a pathway of high impact research experiences starting with a summer bridge program and extending through the upper division curriculum. The research pathway is intended to include all students and to reflect diverse student interests. A novel component of the project is the opportunity for undergraduate interns to partner with different community organizations to design course-based undergraduate research experiences for introductory life science courses. The project aims to provide a testable model for creating early undergraduate research, community, and near-peer experiences that support development of students’ sense of belonging, identity, and self-efficacy within life sciences programs.

The project will develop a student research pathway with early, integrated, and culturally informed research experiences within the STEM community designed to increase success for life sciences majors. Over five years, the project will measure the impacts of community-based culturally informed research experiences on the success of life sciences majors. The project will focus on examining the roles of student-developed interests, understanding, and appreciation of science in student persistence and success. The project will use student interviews to identify project activities that effectively promote and support student engagement in science. This project will build capacity in effective teaching and mentorship for STEM faculty at New Mexico Highlands University and community partners by providing biannual equity and inclusion training workshops. Research pathway activities will start with incorporation of internship-based classroom undergraduate research experiences (ibCUREs) into all introductory life sciences courses. To develop ibCUREs, community STEM partners will collaborate with faculty and rising sophomore students in a Summer Science Challenge Academy, a rising junior summer internship program, and the development of ibCUREs that embed student voices and cultural perspectives. This project will result in the creation of a culturally informed and community-based STEM research pathway model that might be applied to other STEM education programs. More than a thousand first year students will participate in the ibCUREs in introductory life science courses, thus enhancing the quality of their STEM education. At least 150 sophomores and juniors will participate in other components of the project, including the Summer Science Challenge Academy and internships. This project will generate new knowledge about how to increase retention and persistence of undergraduate STEM students, particularly Hispanic students and rural students who comprise a large proportion of the student population at New Mexico Highlands University.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Sarah Corey-Rivas
NMLas Cruces2041515New Mexico State UniversityConference: Building HSI Learning Resilience in the Face of Crisis With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this conference aims to understand the effects of the pandemic and its continuing impact on HSI students’ learning. As the COVID-19 pandemic became confirmed in all 50 states in March 2020, there was an abrupt move to fully distance learning instruction and closing of college campuses, leading to many uncertainties for all institutions, including Hispanic-Serving Institutions. To combat this, the proposed conference will bring 100-150 participants into a 3-day virtual conference. All video and related materials for sharing will be archived in the conference web page post meeting for public access. In the current environment, the notions of experiential, place-based, collaborative, and community centered learning practices have been deeply challenged. Furthermore, these challenges are predicted to have a disproportionately large impact on underserved student populations who benefit the most from these innovative learning approaches (generally identified as first generation, Pell recipient, Latinx, African American, and Native American). As such, there is an urgent need to document what is happening and develop new solutions to improve outcomes. This conference will document the understanding of current practices to create resiliency with an emphasis on exploring new digital tools to enhance distance learning.

This project will primarily focus on (a) Mitigating the Digital Divide; (b) Lab, Design Projects, and Internships from a Distance; (c) Enhancing Mentoring using Distance learning Tools; (d) Digital Learning: What are HSI Faculty, Students, and Families of Students Saying?; (e) Use of Data Science to Inform Nextgen Learning Software; and (f) Quo vadis?, a forum to understand how the HSI community will plan to adapt digital tools discussed post conference. This conference will also enable participants to: 1) collaborate with other institutions during breakout sessions; (2) work through scenarios in tabletop drills with other HSIs; (3) gain access to recordings of the event to reinforce what was learned and view breakout sessions; and (4) build a community powered by new digital tools to develop new tools and prime ideas for future conferences, symposia, webinars, and workshops. Capacity using webinar tools will allow synchronous access to the conference to a wider audience interested in the conference topic. This conference will include administrators, faculty, students, and families of students to better disseminate ideas of digital learning tools. Attending this conference has the potential to improve the ability of HSIs to be resilient and to bounce-back now and in the future as faculty, students, and family will be more knowledgeable from shared knowledge acquired during the conference.

The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Antonio Garcia
NMAlbuquerque2115169University of New MexicoSRS RN: Transforming Rural-Urban Systems: Trajectories for Sustainability in the Intermountain West Catastrophic wildfires, dwindling water supplies, and rapid urban population growth are some of the most pressing challenges of the Intermountain West (IMW). However, the current services and resources available to urban and rural systems (URS) in the IMW leave communities ill-equipped to face these issues. The Transforming Rural-Urban Systems: Trajectories for Sustainability in the Intermountain West Research Network (TRUSTS-RN) is a transdisciplinary research effort representing diverse communities, sectors, disciplines, and backgrounds aimed at improving regional sustainability. Using a convergent research and education plan, the Network focuses on how headwaters and headwater dependent systems, regional food-energy-water systems, and innovative institutions and approaches to governance can be integrated to help direct URS along trajectories that result in a sustainable future for humans and the environment. Network research projects and educational activities are designed to co- produce knowledge with regional partners and utilize a novel framework for Guided Transformation (GT) that incorporates diverse perspectives, includes Indigenous and place-based knowledge, and values community and environmental well-being. Over the course of five years, the Network aims to: (1) improve understanding of inter-linked URS system feedbacks, processes and actors; (2) create a diverse and engaged network of IMW partners to advance understanding of community needs and explore sustainable solutions; (3) train a new cohort of scientists and leaders with expertise in convergent, complex systems thinking; and (4) record and share the processes for developing sustainable URS through a GT framework.

This Network uses a convergent research approach to explore how a GT framework can be employed to build synergistic system connectivity across urban-rural gradients to promote sustainable cities, landscapes, and livelihoods across the IMW. The TRUSTS-RN’s diverse academic disciplines and non- academic partnerships will embrace and integrate western and Indigenous cultural knowledge and use a system-of-systems research approach to advance the theory and applied knowledge of the dynamics, resilience, and transformational opportunities of URS. In so doing, the Network will increase traditional and western knowledge of regional sustainability with cultural open-mindedness and scientific granularity, while identifying and addressing real-world ecosystem issues and community challenges. Through broad cross-disciplinary integration, the Network targets creation of impact through fundamental and use-inspired science projects, advancing sustainability science through regional-scale implementation of projects in the IMW. The Network intends to advance GT theories for collaboratively and equitably transforming URS structures and processes towards sustainability.

This project is co-funded by the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).

This project is also co-funded by the HSI Program which aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Mark Stone
NMSilver City2123508Western New Mexico UniversityHSI Planning Project: Designing an Online and Integrative Interdisciplinary Data Science Community College Curriculum and Pathway With support from the NSF 20-599 Improving Undergraduate STEM Education - HSI Track 1 Planning and Pilot Program grant, Western New Mexico University (WNMU) and Western Governors University (WGU) will collaborate on the design and development of an interdisciplinary, online, two-year Associate of Science Data Science curriculum, degree plan, and pathway for HSI community college and university learners and for incoming dual enrollment, high school, community college, and non-traditional learners. Community colleges play an outsized role in Hispanic student enrollments and yet most two-year colleges do not offer data science pathways with only 15 of circa 600 data science programs in 2017 offered by community colleges versus four-year colleges. Even fewer data science degrees are offered at community colleges with the HSI designation. This collaborative planning project will address students’ needs for a spatially and institutionally contextualized data science two-year online curriculum and set of nested, discipline-specific certificates. Through a prototype set of online data science introductory learning modules targeting HSI community college learners, the project will analyze the cognitive and social needs of HSI community college learners in the critical learner domains of self-efficacy, sense of belonging, and identity. WGU will offer the required instructional designers and learner support structures to design and test an integrated and engaging online learning experience, and effective support for diverse learners. WNMU will provide the local subject matter expertise in data science and education, and a framework for student and family participation in the development of the curriculum and support structures.

Applying a Design-Based Research (DBR) framework, this project will render a set of data points needed by HSI and community college researchers toward assessing the constellation of critical determinants of success for a typical community college STEM data science degree program designed specifically for early learners and non-working professionals. The participatory design process proposed will join WNMU and WGU faculty experts, students, and program staff together with industry partner reviewers toward creating a data science curriculum that can be implemented at WNMU. The data science curriculum will offer colleges a set of shareable online and hybrid instructional resources that serve as a template to customize a data science curriculum within an authentic institutional expert domain and context, whether in healthcare, transportation, business, education, social sciences, or other disciplines. These outcomes will serve as a roadmap for other typical, disadvantaged two- and four-year colleges and HSIs everywhere that already offer standard math and statistics courses. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Nancy Livingston
NMLas Vegas2150103New Mexico Highlands UniversityCultivating Access to Manifest INtentional Outcomes in STEM (CAMINOS) With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program, this Track 2: IEP aims to build upon existing education assets in Northeastern New Mexico to broaden student engagement in STEM. The project will be conducted in one of the poorest U.S. regions, with 28% of residents below the poverty line, and ~78% of individuals of Hispanic descent. Led by the ARMAS (Achieving Research in Math And Science) in Education Center at New Mexico Highlands University, the only four-year college in the region, Cultivating Access to Manifest INtentional Outcomes in STEM (CAMINOS) will cultivate collaborations with regional two-year institutions of higher learning to 1) provide academic support and mentoring to students, 2) facilitate hands-on and culturally responsive learning experiences, and 3) deliver professional development opportunities to faculty. The goal is to recruit and retain students to STEM disciplines, promote student success, and broaden the STEM workforce by producing more STEM graduates with practical experience who are workforce ready. The project expects to deliver outreach to at least 1,500 high school students, coach STEM students from three regional community colleges, and improved mentoring/teaching skills for participating STEM faculty.

The CAMINOS project will modify and expand academic and nonacademic activities currently supported by the ARMAS program at NMHU to meet the HSI program goal of broadening participation of historically underrepresented groups in STEM. In addition, the project will provide an opportunity to increase understanding on how best to affect intersectional systemic change within a broad STEM community. CAMINOS will implement three novel and innovative initiatives to improve student success and broaden participation of historically underrepresented populations: (1) ARMAS Counts, a recognition/celebration program to increase student engagement; (2) ARMAS Connects, a synergistic partnership with three community colleges to more effectively recruit and support students; and (3) ARMAS Faculty Fellows to increase faculty engagement and awareness of students’ assets, challenges, and barriers. The project will also include support for student involvement in grant-funded research and field experiences from the student experience coordinator to increase the number of students engaging in these experiences, leading to increased STEM completion and placement. Lessons learned will be shared with universities and community colleges facing similar challenges to the region. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Jennifer Aldred
NMLas Cruces2225223Dona Ana Branch Community CollegeHSI Pilot Project: Experiential Learning STEM Opportunity for Latinos (ELSOL) With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 Pilot Project aims to improve knowledge about how to increase participation in STEM careers for minoritized individuals living in high poverty urban and rural areas seeking to transfer with an Associates of Science degree to a 4-year university. This goal will be achieved by using two key methods to promote mathematical and science identities toward retention in STEM. These methods include: 1) implementing teaching practices in mathematics courses to improve student self-efficacy and a growth mindset, and 2) engagement through experiential learning in which students will participate in undergraduate research. The expected outcomes of this work are: 1) to improve students’ perceptions on their abilities and sense of belonging in mathematics and science, 2) to improve student retention in STEM programs upon transfer, and 3) to develop a model for implementation of the program at other community colleges. This project will address the underrepresentation of Hispanics among STEM workers and the critical shortage of STEM professionals nationwide. Students participating in this project will gain important knowledge and skills that will prepare them to transfer successfully to a bachelor’s program. Data collected through this project will contribute the knowledge on best practices for students from groups that are underrepresented in STEM environments.

Research suggests that minoritized individuals living in underserved communities do not easily sustain an identity in STEM career pathways, thus Dona Ana Community College will implement a program to enhance STEM education and broaden participation in STEM. The project’s STEM education research will utilize a mixed methods design to answer the following question: Does experiential learning opportunities strengthen student mathematical and science identity and retention in STEM career pathways? The quantitative survey aspect of the research will ascertain the impact of each activity on math and science identity. The case study approach will examine qualitative aspects of the cohort experience that promote identity and retention. Students will also be tracked to determine the impact of the program on retention in STEM. The results of the STEM educational research will be disseminated through regional and national conferences, and through publication in professional journals. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
German Moreno
NMAlbuquerque2235467University of New MexicoConference: HSI Intersectionality Community of Practice for Student Success (HSI-ICPSS) Institutions of higher education generally define underserved student populations using one-dimensional metrics, such as first-generation college status, PELL recipient, Latinx origin, African American origin, and Native American origin and gender. Yet, research shows that reporting higher education outcomes by race alone, gender alone or class alone is insufficient for documenting and eliminating inequities. Intersectionality or attention to the constitution of race, gender, class, and other axes of inequality as both analytically distinct and simultaneous systems in a given sociohistorical context is a powerful tool for making inequities visible and helping institutions of higher education create effective actions for advancing undergraduate student success in STEM and beyond. The HSI Intersectionality Community of Practice for Student Success (HSI-ICPSS) project will bring together 25 HSIs for a year-long community of practice through a virtual conference series. It will convene participating HSIs for four half-day conferences. Key stakeholders, including faculty, staff and other leaders with expertise in equity and inclusion and undergraduate success initiatives focused on STEM will be invited. A key goal of the virtual conference series is to share state of the art scholarship on the use of intersectionality in higher education and the transformative potential of intersectionality as inquiry and praxis for equity metrics and developing effective strategies for advancing student success.

Intersectionality as inquiry and praxis has a long genealogy in both academic and practitioner communities. Yet, the power of intersectionality has not been brought to scale for catalyzing enduring and system-wide equity transformations in equity metrics and distribution of resources in higher education. The long-term goal of HSI-ICPSS is to build capacity for intersectionality as inquiry and praxis as a new gold standard in higher education equity metrics for distribution of resources. The HSI-ICPSS project will result in three written products for each participating HSI: 1) Data Policy Brief outlining institutional consensus values, current data collection and analytical strategies and alternatives that center intersectionality inquiry for equity impact; 2) Action Plan describing their theory of change, stakeholder engagement, anticipated roadblocks, as well as practical solutions in their intersectional community of practice; and 3) Communication Strategy outlining updates to websites and university-wide institutional equity reports on admissions, retention, graduation, including undergraduate STEM degrees. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Nancy Lopez
NVLas Vegas1928409University of Nevada Las VegasEnhancing Critical Transitions in Undergraduate Civil Engineering Education With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 project aims to enhance critical transitions from lower- to upper-division undergraduate coursework for civil engineering majors. The project focuses on addressing low retention and graduation rates in civil engineering undergraduate degrees at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV), which is a designated HSI. UNLV is also a Native-American-Serving Institution and an Asian-American- and Pacific Islander-Serving Institution. The project will increase retention and graduation in civil engineering by: 1) increasing the sense of community among students and between students and faculty; 2) innovating the undergraduate curriculum through course creation and alignment of lower- and upper-division courses; and 3) assisting STEM faculty and graduate assistants to develop and implement culturally responsive teaching strategies. The project will develop evidence-based strategies to manage cultural aspects of engineering education that can be adapted by other institutions. By increasing retention rates and on-track graduation of civil engineering students, including students of diverse backgrounds, the project has the potential to contribute to increasing the diversity of the STEM workforce.

Leveraging a robust collaboration of engineering and education researchers, the project will explore causative and correlative interactions of factors affecting undergraduate civil engineering education. To achieve the educational and research objectives, the project will perform three interconnected activities including, 1) Community Cohesion Building, 2) Transformative Curriculum Development, and 3) Culturally Responsive Faculty Development. The project will engage civil engineering students into cohort-based social activities to build learning communities. The project will engage faculty to align the curriculum of lower- and upper-division courses and to create an inclusive teaching environment. The project seeks to develop evidence-based knowledge on culturally responsive engineering pedagogy for the engineering and education research communities. To this end, it will employ a quantitative and culturally responsive evaluation plan to track progress, enhance resiliency in unforeseen circumstances, and guide future sustainable activities. The project will also include an Advisory Board of experts to provide feedback and guidance. It is expected that the research studies will: 1) identify optimal support structures to enable students to successfully complete the critical transition from lower- to upper-division course; 2) reveal the relational support among cohort groupings to increase retention in the freshman year and to improve learning achievement in upper-division coursework; 3) examine the synergistic effects of incorporating culturally responsive instruction and its impact on student learning. The project outcomes will be disseminated through journal articles, presentations, and a website. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Haroon Stephen
NVHenderson2122930NSHE Board of Regents on behalf of Nevada State CollegeHSI Planning Project: Amplifying Climate Resilience Curriculum Using Informal Learning Opportunities for Undergraduates With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 Planning Project will build critical institutional structure and facilitate thoughtful planning for the future creation of STEM learning experiences that draw on the cultural capital of Latinx students at three HSIs (Nevada State College, University of Nevada Las Vegas, and College of Southern Nevada) in the field of climate change. The key to academic persistence and commitment to a science career is feeling a sense of belonging and confidence in one’s abilities, and students from marginalized groups often have little experience with messaging that is accepting of their self-identity and is encouraging of their ability to achieve careers in STEM fields. This project will discuss the use of engaging informal learning activities and innovative gamification of science content in collaboration with peers, for the future design of curriculum that promotes Latinx students’ STEM identities and increases student excitement regarding careers related to climate change science and education. Moreover, these informal learning experiences will increase the baseline level of understanding of climate change, as well as allowing the students to share their knowledge with the community and challenge misconceptions about what it means to be a “STEM person”.

This planning project will conceptualize four components, including 1) institutional support structure, 2) internship collaboration, 3) learning outcome development, and 4) technology platform for evaluation, dissemination of results, and program assessment. Particularly, it will solidify learning outcomes through collaborative discussions and workshops with stakeholders. With the lens of regenerative agriculture, this project will plan for the eventual design of culturally relevant, problem-driven informal activities in a self-paced curriculum to challenge students to evaluate their own lifestyle choices in the context of climate resilience. The expected results of this project include supporting Latinx student understanding of foundational science concepts underlying climate change and creating institutional relationships and a curricular framework upon climate equity and sustainability. Broader impacts include advancing understanding of how informal learning experiences can increase the diversity of students choosing careers in STEM, particularly through the inclusion of a wide diversity of stakeholders in designing learning outcomes. Results will be disseminated through published manuscripts, website design, social media outreach, and a workshop to finalize the next steps in the project. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Jennifer Edmonds
NVLas Vegas2225226University of Nevada Las VegasImproving STEM Student Fundamental Math Skills with Tailored Activity-Based Instruction With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Implementation and Evaluation (Track 2) project aims to increase mathematics preparation for STEM undergraduate students. The need for a stronger foundation of mathematical skills is a major contributing factor to STEM attrition. Therefore, interventions that bridge the math gap between high school preparation and STEM degrees within the first years of college are critical. Faculty of mathematics, engineering, education, and computer science from the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) and the College of Southern Nevada (CSN) seek to develop motivating and conceptually rich mathematics exercises for students enrolled in pre-STEM and engineering. The exercises will target mathematical concepts that have been shown to be persistently misunderstood by students. The anticipated outcomes of this project are: decreased time to graduation, higher achievement, less STEM attrition, lower degree cost to students, and expanded opportunities for students who are underrepresented in STEM fields of study to pursue advanced degrees in STEM.

This project aims to develop math exercises and associated Canvas applications through: (a) building on co-requisite models which compress enrollment time; (b) reinforcing math concepts as modularized exercises specialized with engineering content; and (c) enhancing student motivation using culturally-relevant pedagogy. The project's STEM education research component will provide formative evaluation for activity improvement and demonstrate how the exercises work to improve STEM outcomes. The initial evaluation of the exercises will use a cluster randomized trial design featuring hierarchical linear modeling to examine learning motivation and mathematical knowledge of students who use them. It is hypothesized that this will lead to improved STEM outcomes especially for students whose participation in STEM is underrepresented. The exercises will be made available online for general public use. The UNLV Center for Mathematics, Science, and Engineering Education will disseminate them among secondary school math teachers in Nevada. The exercise-enhanced remediation strategy will be shared campus-wide at UNLV and CSN through the Faculty Development centers and nation-wide through research- and practitioner-focused conferences and journals. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Monika Neda
NYNew York1800200City University of New York (CUNY) City CollegeHSI Conference: URBANO-INCREASING ACCESS AND SUCCESS IN URBAN STEM PROGRAMS The National Science Foundation (NSF) Dear Colleague Letter NSF 17-092: Improving Undergraduate STEM Education in Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) calls for projects to support conferences that will identify the most critical challenges and opportunities regarding undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education at HSIs, and potential actionable solutions that fall within NSF's mission, policies, and practices. In keeping with this call, the principal investigators of this project will study issues in STEM education at urban HSIs, focusing on the needs and circumstances of urban Hispanic students, who may face a different set of issues compared to students at suburban or rural institutions. These challenges include: limited opportunities for experiential learning, particularly research experiences; and relatively weak academic preparation at the secondary school level. Moreover, these urban Hispanic students are disproportionately represented in groups with lower socioeconomic status. Such circumstances may require commuting long distances to school and holding jobs outside of campus, both of which can impact student success and prospects for degree attainment. The conference will address questions unique to urban institutions, with an emphasis on the use of technology and experiential learning approaches to assist retention and success in STEM education. A conference report, including recommendations for designing an HSI program at NSF, will be produced and shared widely with the higher education enterprise.

The City College of New York will convene students, faculty, and administrators from institutions in the greater New York/New Jersey area, along with representatives from industry and government for this two-day conference. In addition, there will be participants from leading urban-based HSIs drawn from other regions around the country. The conference will be organized around three key questions: What issues contribute to the Hispanic student STEM Gap that are particular to urban, as opposed to rural or suburban colleges? What are the aspects of technology and experiential learning that can be brought to bear on addressing this Gap? What types of interventions in these solution sets appear to address the Gap and the needs and challenges posed by industry, academia, and students in an urban college setting? Seeking answers to these questions will also open the door to exploring issues that are relevant to Hispanic students across the nation, and more broadly, to other groups of underrepresented students who face significant challenges in pursuing their higher education goals. The conference will emphasize opportunities for participants to engage with each other actively. Session themes include: 1) Academia: the Gap into Preparation, 2) Industry: the Gap into Employment, and 3) Students: the Gap into Performance. Additional themes include Using Social Media to Build Community and Experiential Learning in MakerSpaces. A poster session will also be conducted to maximize opportunities for networking among the conference attendees.
Jorge Gonzalez
NYBrooklyn1832457City University of New York (CUNY) New York City College of TechnologyBuilding Capacity: Enhancing Undergraduate STEM Education by Enhancing Transfer Success The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program) aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge about how to achieve these aims. This project will advance the aims of the HSI Program by increasing the number of students from community colleges who transfer to four-year STEM programs and by accelerating their baccalaureate degree completion. This project is a collaboration between New York City College of Technology (City Tech) and six City University of New York (CUNY) community colleges, five of which are also HSIs. The partners include the Borough of Manhattan Community College, Bronx Community College, Guttman Community College, Hostos Community College, Kingsborough Community College, and LaGuardia Community College. The project aims to increase the number of students from the partnering community colleges who transfer into City Tech STEM programs and to accelerate baccalaureate degree completion by associate degree graduates. To accomplish these aims, the project plans to strengthen transfer pathways between City Tech and the community college partners and to increase support for transfer students at City Tech. This project has the potential to increase the number of STEM students from underrepresented groups, which often begin pursuit of higher education at a community college. In addition, because CUNY is the largest urban public university system in the nation, innovations at CUNY can provide an example to the nation of creative approaches to improve student outcomes.

The goals of the project are to reduce barriers that inhibit transfer of students from community colleges to City Tech, and to maximize support for students who successfully transfer. To accomplish these goals, the project will create two programs. First, using the existing CUNY Pathways articulation initiative as a model, the project will develop a STEM Transfer Collaborative to strengthen transfer pathways between City Tech and the collaborating community colleges. Second, using the CUNY Accelerated Study in Associate Programs initiative as a model, the project will develop a Momentum to the Baccalaureate program to support junior and senior-level transfer students. The project includes research on the impact on transfer student success of (1) collaboration between 2-year and 4-year colleges, including curricular and pedagogical alignment; (2) adoption of supports from an associate-degree support program to upper-level baccalaureate students; and (3) initial matriculation at a community college versus a baccalaureate institution. The research methodologies and approaches in this study are informed by current and tested qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods used in engineering education research. This project may increase the number of students, including those from underrepresented groups, earning baccalaureate degrees in career-focused, high-demand majors. In addition, it has the potential to create new knowledge on the critical national issue of how to expand opportunity and access to STEM baccalaureate programs.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Pamela Brown
NYBronx1832507Research Foundation Of The City University Of New York (Lehman)Building Capacity: A Faculty Development Program to Increase Students' Quantitative Reasoning Skills The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program) aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI program will also generate new knowledge about how to achieve these aims. This project will advance the aims of the HSI Program by improving the ability of STEM faculty to teach quantitative reasoning skills to undergraduates. This project is a collaboration between three colleges in the City College of New York (CUNY) system: Lehman College, Baruch College, and LaGuardia Community College. The project plans to implement a large scale professional development project to improve the ability of STEM faculty at all 24 CUNY colleges to teach quantitative reasoning skills. The professional development program will provide faculty with knowledge of best practices for teaching quantitative reasoning, so that STEM faculty from mathematics, computer science, life sciences, physical sciences, and social sciences can effectively integrate quantitative reasoning into their courses. As a result, faculty will expand existing STEM courses to include data analysis skills, including the ability to gather and interpret data, draw conclusions based on numerical evidence, and communicate this information to others. Materials developed by the project for use in the expanded courses will be available via workshops or online, for use by other faculty and institutions. The project aims to increase the number of students, particularly those from underrepresented groups, pursuing a STEM degree. The project also aims to enhance student quantitative reasoning skills, so that these students are better prepared to enter the STEM workforce.

The first objective of the project is to establish a faculty development program to train instructors at HSIs in best practices for numeracy-building data analysis research. The second objective is to implement a data analysis research experience in STEM courses, designed to support improvements of the quantitative reasoning capabilities, and the STEM education and career pathways of students. Finally, the third objective is to evaluate the program's impact on students' quantitative reasoning skills, their attitudes towards quantitative information, and their subsequent STEM coursework and college success, including their retention rates and their transitions from two-year to four-year institutions. The research plan will include a mixed method study to analyze the outcomes of the professional development activities and to investigate student outcomes from the data analysis research experience. The project seeks to generate new knowledge about best practices for implementing professional development that builds STEM faculty expertise and teaching skills in data analysis, with the overarching goal of enhancing the learning experiences of STEM students.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Esther Wilder
NYNew York1832567City University of New York (CUNY) City CollegeBuilding Capacity: City College of New York STEM Communities The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program) aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims. This project at the City University of University of New York (CUNY City College) will advance the aims of the HSI Program by building a social media platform designed specifically for students entering, continuing, or transferring into STEM majors. Students transitioning from high school to college, from two-year institutions to four-year institutions, or from lower division to upper division coursework face academic and logistical challenges. These challenges include navigating a new environment, learning the mechanics of registration and other campus activities, and dealing with changes in rigor and pacing in coursework. These challenges can be amplified at urban institutions, where commuting and working outside the classroom present added obstacles. CUNY City College plans to address these challenges by building a social media platform for students entering, continuing, or transferring into STEM majors. The platform will be designed as a "one-stop" location for academic support, tutoring, and social interaction. The platform is envisioned to also promote networking and interaction for students with limited time on campus due to commuting or work needs. The platform will also be a home for virtual tutoring and will list resources and contact information (e.g. financial aid) to connect students with what they need on campus. It is expected that this platform will improve student success and retention in STEM, thus contributing to increasing diversity in STEM fields.

A social media platform that supports community-building and information sharing interventions may assist students at critical transitions by improving access to critical services for students who attend urban commuter schools. Successfully addressing culture shock is expected to result in higher retention and graduation rates for these students. This hypothesis will be explored by creating the CUNY City College STEM Communities platform: a custom-built, open-source, social networking platform intended to augment and extend the outreach and support services that CUNY City College offers to incoming students, transfer students, and students transitioning from lower division to upper division coursework. CUNY City College STEM Communities is also expected to draw these students into social and informational interactions that will mitigate the effects of culture shock, resulting in increased retention and graduation rates. CUNY City College STEM Communities has four objectives: 1) to explore the degree to which a custom-constructed social media platform can build and extend student engagement opportunities at multiple levels with peers, mentors, and student organizations to mitigate culture shock; 2) to explore the degree to which that platform can also improve student educational achievement and workforce preparation through the mobilization of "affinity groups" focused on experiential learning, research, entrepreneurship, student clubs, and gateway classes that are supported by near-peer Course Connectors, enhanced by academic support during flexible hours, and buttressed by teaching assistants and faculty; 3) to increase cohort members' self-efficacy and internal locus of control through an online social belonging intervention; and 4) to contribute to the literature on factors producing and affecting campus culture shock, particularly at urban commuter colleges, and its mitigation through the use of social media. The results of this research will identify factors that contribute to the cultural shock in transitioning underrepresented STEM students and will explore the effectiveness of social media to mitigate it.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Joseph Barba
NYFlushing1928565City University of New York (CUNY) Queens CollegeAn Interdisciplinary Design Program: Incorporating Making and Design Thinking to Enhance Undergraduate STEM Education With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 project aims to improve undergraduate student interest in science and retention in STEM programs. It intends to accomplish this goal by enriching STEM courses with project-based learning activities that introduce students to making and design thinking. The project seeks to build faculty capacity through a partnership between Queens College, an HSI, and the New York Hall of Science, a science museum. The project will draw from the expertise in informal learning of New York Hall of Science, which has developed a framework that enhances STEM learning through making, discovery, and exploration. The project will gather evidence about how making and design thinking lead to increased student motivation and interest in STEM, as well as improvements in academic outcomes for students. The project seeks to broaden the participation of underrepresented groups in STEM disciplines and has the potential to transform science interest within the diverse community of Queens in New York City.

The project aims to incorporate project-based pedagogical approaches in identified courses to introduce students to making and design thinking. The project will develop and support a learning community for STEM faculty, which will help faculty acquire expertise in how to best incorporate design thinking, making, and the use of makerspace facilities into their courses. The project aims to generate best practices in project-based learning that includes making and design thinking in STEM courses. In addition, the project will examine whether making and design thinking supports changes in students' motivational beliefs and interest in STEM, deepens faculty pedagogical practices, and fosters inter-institutional interactions. The project's impact on undergraduate students will be investigated using data linked to STEM achievement and persistence (from institutional records) and measures of motivational perceptions (from surveys). To investigate faculty participation and perceptions, as well as impact on participating institutions, a longitudinal mixed methods design will generate data about how faculty respond over time to training and support, and about how long-term activities lead to change in complex institutions. The project will host a public forum where students can present or demo their projects and will also share findings through a project website. Other dissemination efforts will include course manuals posted on the QC Makerspace and course websites, papers published in both academic publications and informal learning practitioner publications, presentations given at STEM education conferences and at public events at the New York Hall of Science. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Nathalia Holtzman
NYNew York1953465Research Foundation of the City University of New YorkTesting the Impact of Culturally Responsive Pedagogy and Streamline Transfer Support on STEM Success for Underrepresented Students TITLE: Testing the Impact of Culturally Responsive Pedagogy and Streamline Transfer Support on STEM Success for Underrepresented Students

With the support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 2 project will examine whether the combined impact of Culturally Responsive Pedagogy (CRP) in STEM, coupled with the removal of structural barriers for transfer, will result in the repair of the STEM pipeline for underrepresented talent. Our nation must discover innovative answers for numerous crises of well-being: food, water, energy, and health, to name a few. These solutions will require future-focused, creative thinking, achievable only if we are educating a diverse STEM workforce. The percentage of high school graduates who plan to major in STEM at a 2-year institution is rising, demonstrating growth for the high school-to-community college pipeline. Yet, even as community college STEM enrollment is increasing, degree completion remains persistently low for underrepresented students. This project posits that CRP, alongside strategic transfer supports, is the answer. The project will build on emerging literature, which argues that CRP is critical at the K-12 level to engage underserved students in STEM academic experiences. The project will also build upon recent studies which indicate that diversity in the STEM pipeline cannot be achieved without repairing the “leak” between 2-year and 4-year colleges. This project will jointly leverage these evidence-based insights to explore whether CRP’s advantages can be scaffolded across from K-12 to repair the STEM pipeline’s most critical transition, from 2- to 4-year schools.

The research intervention for this project will fill a critical gap in our national understanding of community college-to-baccalaureate STEM persistence by testing the combined impact of CRP and streamlined transfer support structures for underserved students. This research will generate a new evidence basis for strategies to drastically improve STEM education for underrepresented students. Furthermore, the project will test and implement an inclusive, equity-driven model of community college STEM success to serve as an exemplar in higher education. Lessons will be disseminated nationwide through conference presentations and publication in peer-reviewed journals, with a promise to inform effective tactics and practices that will lead to increased success for underrepresented students while meeting the urgent national challenge of STEM workforce inclusivity. Recognizing that underrepresented, low-income, and first-generation college students will be the leaders and innovators of the next-generation STEM workforce, this project is designed to generate the groundbreaking knowledge that enables both their future and the nation’s long-term prosperity. This HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Niesha Ziehmke
NYBronx2115568College of Mount Saint VincentHSI IUSE Pilot: Implementation of a Model Recitation Period to Support STEM Student Development and Scientific Literacy Skills in Chemistry With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this pilot PPP project aims to implement academic supports that improve student learning and performance in introductory chemistry courses, thereby increasing the number of students entering chemistry and biochemistry majors. This exploratory research and development study will contribute to the knowledge base on how best to support and improve chemistry education for underserved inner-city minority students who are underprepared for college-level chemistry. The project will benefit 30 undergraduate students who are interested in chemistry and biochemistry majors but are at risk of not progressing through the general chemistry and organic chemistry course sequences. Based on lessons learned from prior implementation of a recitation section for general and organic chemistry, the project team at College of Mount Saint Vincent (CMSV) will redesign the recitation to focus on goal setting, study skills, problem-solving specific to the general chemistry and organic chemistry course sequences, and relevance of coursework to careers. The project will provide preliminary evidence of the effectiveness of building student skills in goal setting, problem-solving, and scientific literacy through supplemental curriculum for general chemistry and organic chemistry and the extent such skills improve student achievement and persistence in students, especially inner-city students of color.

The objectives for the project are to implement a model of recitation and show that it supports student development of motivation, self-efficacy, problem-solving skills, ability to relate course content to real-word problems and careers, and scientific literacy. As a result, students will have improved grades in the general chemistry and organic chemistry two-course sequences, increasing the number of students who complete both courses and declare a chemistry/biochemistry major. The project team, composed of chemistry faculty and an education researcher, will investigate the following research question: How well do the planned supports increase students’ self-efficacy, intrinsic motivation, connection of course content to real-world applications and careers, and scientific literacy, and do these improvements lead to higher major declaration and persistence in chemistry/biochemistry? Evidence of the effectiveness of achievement goal theory and the gradual release of responsibility model will influence pedagogy in CMSV’s science programs and contribute to strategies that help at-risk students at other HSIs. CMSV intends to build upon the results of the pilot to develop an Implementation and Evaluation Project proposal to further support the proposed recitation strategies, and the College will fully implement the redesigned recitation model to improve students’ chemistry achievement. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Pamela Kerrigan
NYNew York2115960City University of New York (CUNY) John Jay College of Criminal JusticeHSI Planning Project: Development of an Early Attrition Predictive Model for STEM Majors at a Major Hispanic-Serving Institution With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1: PPP proposal aims to undertake an institutional-wide assessment of early STEM attrition to inform the development of a predictive model that will identify students in STEM majors who are at risk of leaving STEM or dropping out entirely, and group these students according to their risk factors. Recognizing that deficit-oriented models fail to fully explain the high-level of attrition of Hispanics and other underrepresented minorities from STEM majors, the proposed model will use both institutional data (e.g., student demographics, socioeconomic status, pre-college characteristics, enrollment patterns, academic performance, and institutional factors) and results of validated surveys administered to students and alumni who have attrited from a STEM major to identify risk factors that can be addressed institutionally. Doing so will allow the development of targeted interventions that mitigate the risk factors identified by the model in a future Track 2 submission, which will be designed to provide students with the tools and resources that will help ensure their retention and successful completion of a STEM major and entry into a post-graduate STEM career.

The aims of this proposal are to (1) work with key institutional data repositories to gather student metrics and (2) administer surveys to students from cohorts who have left the major to understand their reasons for leaving the STEM majors at John Jay College to (3) develop and validate a predictive model to identify whether patterns of attrition and factors related to attrition differ across subgroups of students. The PI team hypothesizes that different factors will affect attrition of different students, and that these factors can be predicted and mitigated with intervention (e.g. tutoring, social support, remediation, financial counseling, etc.). The final aim is to (4) work with the major offices associated with undergraduate completion, a trained psychologist, and an independent evaluator to develop a cohort of interventions and a plan for rigorous evaluation of these interventions for submission as a future NSF HSI program Track 2 proposal. The knowledge generated in this proposal will be published in peer-reviewed literature and shared with other minority- and Hispanic-serving institutions that wish to address attrition rates of STEM majors. The model itself will be shared with other HSIs to allow them to analyze the factors affecting attrition at their institutions. The NSF HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Anthony Carpi
NYBronx2121240City University of New York (CUNY) Hostos Community CollegeStrengthening Physics Achievement via Research and Collaboration (SPARC) This project aims to serve the national interest by improving college students' success in introductory physics. General Physics I (PHY 210), a calculus-based introductory physics course, is a "gateway" course for all STEM majors at Hostos Community College. The course serves a diverse population of students, many of whom are first-generation college students and are from groups historically underrepresented in STEM. In this project, the investigators will redesign this course by implementing a strategy called "Doing Physics" (DP), which emphasizes problem-solving, scientific reasoning, and collaboration. The new approach to the course will integrate inquiry-based science, collaborative and game-based learning, course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs), and mentoring students to pursue independent research opportunities. The aim is to increase the retention rate and pass rate in the course, and thereby to increase the number and diversity of students who pursue, persist in, and complete degrees in STEM. At many colleges and universities, an introductory physics course is required for, and sometimes poses a barrier for, students pursuing STEM majors. Therefore, the new curriculum that will be pilot-tested in this project has the potential to become a model for improving introductory physics nationwide.

The overarching goal of this project is to improve student outcomes in a calculus-based general physics course, and thus better prepare the students for subsequent science and engineering courses and for careers in STEM. The project team will develop the "Doing Physics" pedagogical approach, implement it in the General Physics I course, expose students to authentic research through CUREs, prepare students to apply for and succeed in intensive summer research experiences (such as NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates [REU] opportunities), and measure the impact of the new approach through rigorous evaluation. Expected outcomes for the students include higher completion and pass rates in the course; increased persistence in STEM, graduation in STEM, and progression to STEM careers; and enhanced confidence, self-efficacy, sense of belonging, identity in STEM, and collaborative skills. The project evaluation will use a mixed-methods approach, looking at the program's impact on students' academic performance, progress relative to developmental objectives, retention (within the institution and within STEM disciplines), and post-graduation outcomes relative to non-participant peers. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools. This project is also supported by the NSF HSI Program, which has the goals of enhancing the quality of undergraduate STEM education and increasing the recruitment, retention, and graduation rates of students pursuing associate or baccalaureate degrees in STEM.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Yoel Rodriguez
NYNew York2122690City University of New York (CUNY) Borough of Manhattan Community CollegeHSI Implementation and Evaluation: Bridging the Gap: Designing a Technology Learning Community Integrating Computational Thinking to Improve STEM Engagement Across DisciplinesMohammad Azhar
NYNew York2122762City University of New York (CUNY) Hunter CollegeAchieving Equitable Persistence in STEM with a Data-informed Student-centered Transformation of the First-year College Experience This project aims to develop and deploy a set of effective success practices to transform first-year STEM education in order to attain equitable educational outcomes in STEM, both at Hunter College and other Hispanic-serving institutions. While many Hispanic students enter Hunter College interested in STEM, relatively few persist and graduate in their chosen STEM majors due to challenges during their first year. With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program), the project team will deliver several STEM success initiatives intended to enhance first-year STEM education and determine which policies and practices are the most effective for supporting STEM success at Hunter College. The effective practices will be embedded across STEM disciplines at Hunter College, thereby transforming its educational landscape. The project’s results will be disseminated broadly, enabling other campuses to deploy similar best practices. This is expected to reduce equity gaps and improve STEM outcomes for Hispanic students at Hunter College and other HSIs, thereby contributing to a larger and more diverse STEM workforce.

This project aims to enhance the first-year experience among STEM students by deploying and studying the effectiveness of a range of pedagogical practices. These include gateway STEM course revisions, faculty pedagogical development, course-based research experiences, STEM-focused learning communities, STEM-readiness activities, and STEM-focused co-curricular supports. Both quantitative and qualitative methods will be used to examine four key questions. First is how these enhancements relate to students’ short- and long-term academic success, motivation, belonging, and commitment to STEM. Second is how students’ motivation and self-concept as science learners relate to their success and persistence in STEM. Third is how students’ perception of institutional climate relates to their success and persistence in STEM. Fourth is how contextual and situational factors relate to success across these different initiatives. The new knowledge generated from this project will be disseminated to faculty, researchers, policy makers, and institutional leaders within Hunter College and the wider higher education community, via presentations, publications, and conferences. The anticipated benefits of this project include a greater sense of belonging and motivation among diverse STEM students; increased persistence and success in STEM among Hispanic students; equitable outcomes for students in their chosen STEM discipline; an enhanced STEM educational experience; increased collaboration between STEM and STEM education faculty; and increased stakeholder commitment to transformative STEM educational practices. This project will also generate knowledge on the institutional transformation process itself by deepening understanding of how intra-institutional teams can function to support students. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Christina Medina-Ramirez
NYBronx2135805City University of New York (CUNY) Hostos Community CollegeA Holistic Two-Generation Approach to Improving STEM Education Outcomes in the South Bronx This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). This project aims to serve the national interest by addressing the immediate needs of student-parents as they complete undergraduate STEM degrees. The project will support student-parents at CUNY Hostos Community College, a two-year Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) in the South Bronx. Student-parents comprise nearly one-third of the student body at the institution. Hostos Oasis for Parents’ Education (HOPE) is a holistic Two-Generation (2Gen) STEM summer program for college-ready parents and their children. It will provide equitable access to STEM career paths and to two-year degree completion for student-parents while providing a robust summer STEM Academy experience for their preK-8 children. HOPE will incorporate a three-dimensional (3D) holistic support model focused on three distinct areas: family, academic, and social/professional support. The project will use this support model to address the many obstacles encountered by academically proficient student-parents. These obstacles include "time poverty", insufficient time to devote to college, work, and family. While student-parents' motivation for college completion is strong, their role as a parent substantially increases their likelihood of leaving college without a degree. Part-time status often precludes them from existing support programs. By leveraging high quality evidence-based practices like Experiential Learning Opportunities (ELOs), and evidence-based programs, this transformative project intends to advance the understanding of whether the HOPE model can improve the quality and accessibility of STEM education for community college student-parents and their children. Project outcomes have potential to improve access to high quality STEM education for an often overlooked population. This holistic intervention is a potentially crucial mitigation strategy in the post COVID-19 landscape for a community disproportionately affected by the pandemic.

The goals of the project are to: (i) make systematic improvements to undergraduate community college STEM education through ELOs in STEM and social sciences; (ii) provide high quality STEM experiences for children ages pre-K-8th grade; (iii) create an openly sourced ELO STEM Toolkit with an accompanying professional development sequence; (iv) promote diversity, equity, and inclusion by recruiting Hostos student-parents and their children who are predominantly racial/ethnic minorities with special recruitment efforts aimed at justice-impacted student parents; and (v) provide new knowledge on the effectiveness of HOPE’s 3D Model. This comprehensive and holistic 2Gen program will enroll 22 student-parents, and approximately 42 children during the first year and increase capacity each year. Approximately 450 participants over five years, including student parents, children, teachers (preK-8), college faculty, and undergraduate education students, will benefit from the HOPE Program. The effectiveness of the project will be evaluated using a mixed methods approach, leveraging both quantitative and qualitative research including pre- and post-program surveys, focus groups, and peer observation among a group of instructors and faculty. A team with expertise in program evaluation, online education, and teaching STEM to middle school students with learning differences, will provide ongoing assessment as part of our process development and evaluation. Research on the HOPE 3D model will be disseminated through a project website, conference workshops and presentations, and peer-reviewed articles. The NSF program description on Advancing Innovation and Impact in Undergraduate STEM Education at Two-year Institutions of Higher Education supports projects that advance STEM education initiatives at two-year colleges. The program description promotes innovative and evidence-based practices in undergraduate STEM education at two-year colleges. This project is supported by the NSF HSI Program and the NSF IUSE: EHR Program. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Sarah Hoiland
NYNew York2150423City University of New York (CUNY) John Jay College of Criminal JusticeHSI Pilot Project: Including others in the teaching and practice of STEM disciplines With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 project aims to promote systemic change in the teaching of STEM disciplines in order to close the gap between learners, educators, and the pedagogical material used in the classroom. The expected outcomes of this work are to increase faculty expertise through training in anti-racist and inclusive approaches that promote diversity in the STEM classroom, to have STEM students engaged with the faculty-created culturally affirming and anti-racist materials and activities, and to share the newly created resources in an open resource repository to support STEM faculty across the university and improve their pedagogical skills regarding culturally affirming teaching practices. This project proposes to promote institutional transformation in the teaching of STEM disciplines that better represents the student populations at Hispanic Serving Institutions by applying this approach to seven STEM courses at CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

The first objective of the project is to conduct an incentivized 1-year STEM faculty seminar in which faculty will learn about anti-racist and inclusive pedagogies, as well as discuss their role and determine actions to undertake to diversify the students’ voices in the classroom. The seminar outcomes include classroom materials and activities aligned with the course content and developed with a culturally affirming, anti-racist lens. The second objective is the implementation of these materials and activities in the first and second year STEM courses to effect change in their epistemological perspectives to reflect the diversity of the classrooms and to empower the students. The third objective is to carry out a robust evaluation that assesses the impact of these activities in relation to students’ sense of belonging to STEM and science identity. The fourth and final objective is to develop an open-resource platform that will house the created resources and tools to make them accessible to other STEM faculty members. Ultimately, this will promote widespread curricular change, enhance faculty engagement and equitable student outcomes. The research plan will include a mixed-method approach to analyze students’ experiences and outcomes after participating in this program. The project seeks to generate new knowledge about inclusive pedagogical practices to increase the connection of students with classroom materials, and shed light into new strategies to impact students’ persistence in STEM majors that promote the retention of marginalized and historically underrepresented minority students in STEM. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Lissette Delgado-Cruzata
NYNew York2204558City University of New York (CUNY) City CollegeADVANCE Adaptation: Advancing Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity in STEM (AIDE-STEM) TThe overall goal of the City College of New York (CCNY) 's ADVANCE Adaptation project is to implement institutional transformation that fosters an equitable and supportive professional environment for all faculty, with a particular emphasis on women and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) STEM faculty. The persistent underrepresentation of women and BIPOC faculty in STEM at CCNY and across the nation undermines the attainment of a diverse, well-prepared STEM workforce and national prosperity. The reasons for the persistent underrepresentation are complex. The solutions to address this persistent underrepresentation require new and multi-faceted integrative approaches rooted in the primary forces that drive academic careers: research, teaching, and service. This project will work to ensure that women and BIPOC faculty are supported so they can thrive in all three of these pillars. The project has three key activities: 1. Increase the promotion, retention, and mentoring of women and BIPOC STEM faculty. 2. Improve workload equity and internal support for research and collaboration. 3. Foster an inclusive environment for all by decreasing systemic racism. CCNY is uniquely positioned in the CUNY educational system because it includes the CUNY School of Medicine and Grove School of Engineering.

Results from a prior NSF ADVANCE Catalyst award at CCNY have informed the development and design of the current project. The Catalyst institutional self-assessment work, which included faculty interviews and climate surveys, indicated that women and BIPOC faculty have differential experiences in mentoring, understanding of policies and procedures, and career progression at CCNY. The CCNY project will adapt best practices from several past ADVANCE institutions. Together, the suite of activities is comprehensive and designed to address the systemic issues identified in the Catalyst project and faculty surveys.

The NSF ADVANCE program is designed to foster gender equity through a focus on the identification and elimination of organizational barriers that impede the full participation and advancement of diverse faculty in academic institutions. Organizational barriers that inhibit equity may exist in policies, processes, practices, and the organizational culture and climate. ADVANCE "Adaptation" awards provide support for the adaptation and adoption of evidence-based strategies to academic, non-profit institutions of higher education as well as non-academic, non-profit organizations.

This project was supported by a co-funding from the HSI Program, which aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Rosemarie Wesson
NYBrooklyn2215859City University of New York (CUNY) New York City College of TechnologyDeveloping Foundations for Nanopore DNA Sequencing Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences at Minority-Serving Institutions This project aims to serve the national interest by making it easier for educators to integrate advanced DNA sequencing technologies and related laboratory and data science skills into their teaching. DNA sequencing allows us to read the instructions contained in DNA — the so-called “molecule of life”. DNA sequencing has impacted every area of biology, enabling researchers to understand more about how life works. This technology is used for research that boosts agriculture, monitors biodiversity, creates energy solutions, and improves human health. Previously, DNA sequencing was expensive and time consuming, but technological improvements have lowered the cost and the time involved. Preparing the next generation of researchers to use this advanced technology is essential, but few undergraduate biology educators are equipped to do this. Reasons for this include complex protocols, lack of lesson materials, insufficient computer skills, and educator perceptions of earlier, less accurate versions of this technology. In this project, the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory DNA Learning Center will work with three partner institutions to reduce these barriers to using advanced DNA sequencing technology in the classroom. Together with New York City College of Technology, Spelman College, and University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras, the project team will co-develop protocols and teaching tools that integrate advanced DNA sequencing into hands-on training for biology undergraduates. Faculty from these institutions and other partners include 2- and 4-year, Hispanic-serving, and Historically Black institutions, maximizing the potential that the solutions developed can be successfully implemented in a variety of college settings. Independent evaluation of the project will lay a foundation for future dissemination at a national level and will support efforts to create a highly skilled and diverse US STEM workforce.

The first project objective intends to develop a biochemistry and bioinformatics workflow to design a kit of reagents and classroom-friendly protocols that minimize cost, are easy-to-use, and are customized to support course-based student research projects. Existing NSF-funded computing solutions (e.g., CyVerse, JetStream, XSEDE) will support prototype bioinformatics workflows, and sample datasets. The project team will develop demonstration DNA sequencing projects (e.g., genome assembly, biodiversity studies, and metagenomics) that explore compelling research questions and that can be integrated into undergraduate coursework. Each project will organize faculty from partner institutions into mentoring networks to promote the development of a “community of practice.” This approach will support the application of evidence-based curriculum guidelines as faculty iteratively develop lessons, devise solutions to implementation challenges, and pilot materials with students. Expert researchers and educators will provide advice on achieving both the scientific and pedagogical goals of the project. Project evaluation will advance our understanding of the barriers to faculty adoption of DNA sequencing technology in course-based research experiences using published assessment tools. The data collected will be applied to fill gaps in knowledge about barriers to student research at minority-serving institutions. Lessons learned will be shared at the institutional level, through virtual networks for genomics and computational biology education, and at national conferences. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Level 1 Institutional and Community Transformation track, the program supports efforts to transform and improve STEM education across institutions of higher education and disciplinary communities. This project is also supported by the NSF IUSE:HSI program, which has the goals of enhancing the quality of undergraduate STEM education, and increasing the recruitment, retention, and graduation rates of students pursuing associate’s or baccalaureate degrees in STEM.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Jeremy Seto
NYBronx2225217City University of New York (CUNY) Bronx Community CollegeHSI Pilot Project: The 13th Credit Pilot Project With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 Pilot Project aims to develop and test a novel approach to retain undergraduate students who are at-risk of academic failure in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) studies. To train the next-generation STEM workforce in the numbers needed to meet projected demand, it is critical that we find ways to keep academically at-risk students on track to complete their studies. This is especially true for the 96% of CUNY Bronx Community College (BCC) students who are students of color: Hispanic and Black students are more likely to switch out of STEM majors, drop out of STEM courses, and/or leave college altogether. The 13th Credit Pilot Project builds on a First Year Seminar program with evidence of effectiveness and refocuses it on STEM success for underrepresented students at-risk of academic failure as part of a comprehensive package of interventions (e.g., Course-based Research Experiences, faculty mentoring, peer mentoring, and cohort development). In doing so, it may provide a blueprint for other colleges struggling to improve outcomes.

The 13th Credit Pilot Project includes a research component that examines to what extent the provision of robust, rigorous science enrichment, usually available only to the highest-performing students, affects the outcomes of Hispanic students, students of color, and students from low-income households who are at-risk academically. Project implementation is expected to increase students’ GPA, credit accumulation, persistence in college, persistence in STEM majors, graduation from college, and graduation with STEM degrees. The PI will share findings across the College to foster further expansion and development of the model. Additionally, the PI will share findings at NSF project director meetings, annual CUNY conferences, professional conferences such as the National Conferences on Undergraduate Research (NCUR), American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), and League for Innovation in Community Colleges, and in professional journals, as well as disseminating materials on a BCC website. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI. Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Sheldon Skaggs
NYBrooklyn2232725City University of New York (CUNY) New York City College of TechnologyHSI Conference: Promoting Servingness across CUNY HSIs With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program, this conference aims to bring together faculty, students, and staff from all City University of New York (CUNY) HSIs to highlight successful HSI initiatives, reflect on CUNY campus HSI identities, develop a plan for formalizing a CUNY HSI network and promote servingness across CUNY. CUNY is the nation’s largest urban public university, made up of 25 colleges throughout New York City. New York ranks fourth in the nation in number of HSIs with a total of 35 HSI colleges and universities. More than one half of CUNY’s colleges are designated as HSIs, however there is no centralized CUNY network. The proposed project is a two-day conference that will bring together representatives from all CUNY HSIs in a call to action to intentionally serve Hispanic/Latinx students through data, practice, and leadership. The conference will improve the understanding of how to effectively measure Hispanic/Latinx student success and the knowledge generated will inform institutions about what supports, and environments are needed to assist Hispanic/Latinx students on their path to degree attainment.

This conference will provide the platform for CUNY HSIs to define and promote servingness at their campuses and foster a discussion on collaboration and establishment of centralized resources and support across CUNY. The conference speakers and workshop leaders will share their extensive experience with promoting servingness across HSIs and guide the conference participants through working sessions designed to produce the content of a white paper on the state of CUNY HSIs. The participants will represent faculty, students, staff, and administrators across CUNY HSIs. Results of this project will be published in peer-reviewed journals, disseminated at conferences, and shared in white papers with the HSI Community. The project will provide models of Best Practices at HSIs that may be adapted, adopted, and replicated by colleges and universities across the nation that seek to increase recruitment, retention, and graduation rates for Hispanic/Latinx students. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Melanie Villatoro
ORSalem2123225Chemeketa Community CollegeInclusive Community Collaboration and Supportive Cohorts to Improve STEM Student Success With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this project will combine a STEM-focused faculty community of practice with student support strategies to improve the enrollment, persistence, and degree attainment of students who are underrepresented in their participation in STEM disciplines at Chemeketa College. The state of Oregon is experiencing an increased demand for qualified STEM professionals, and this project intends to meet that demand by diversifying, and hence expanding the population of students entering the STEM workforce. A combination of approaches will be used, including professional development aimed at encouraging culturally responsive teaching practices, and enhanced student support services including fostering of cohorts, awarding of scholarships, and mentoring. This combination of strategies, applied at an Hispanic-serving community college, will generate new knowledge regarding the combined impact of direct financial support, mentorship, and faculty professional development to improve student outcomes. This project is expected to lead to an increase in the number of women and persons of color successfully pursuing and attaining degrees in STEM fields.

The project will pilot targeted student supports and faculty professional development in order to increase the enrollment, retention, and degree attainment of students whose participation in STEM fields of study is below that of their proportional representation in the overall population. The college will collect data to identify the strategies that are most effective in improving the undergraduate STEM education experience for a diverse body of students at this Hispanic-serving community college. Mathematics faculty will participate in professional development workshops on culturally responsive teaching that will lead to numerous course redesigns. The project will establish a cohort of students that will benefit from scholarships and increased access to mentors and course-embedded tutors. Through these efforts, the college expects to identify a core set of practices that can be enacted systematically across all STEM disciplines. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Keith Schloeman
PRMayaguez1802552University of Puerto Rico MayaguezHSI Conference: Accelerating the Impact of HSI STEM Education and Research on Innovation Ecosystems The National Science Foundation (NSF) Dear Colleague Letter NSF 17-092: Improving Undergraduate STEM Education in Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) calls for projects to support conferences that will identify the most critical challenges and opportunities regarding undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education at HSIs, and potential actionable solutions that fall within NSF's mission, policies, and practices. In response to this call, the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez (UPRM) will host the HSI Conference: Accelerating the Impact of HSI STEM Education and Research on Innovation Ecosystems, in cooperation with other HSIs in Puerto Rico, as well as partners in the commercial economy. The conference will be held in October or November of 2018 and will to seek to expand active learning opportunities for undergraduate populations at HSIs by linking these students with mentors from both the commercial and knowledge economies. The incorporation of undergraduate experiential learning is an essential part of motivating students at HSIs to become "do-ers" in the realm of entrepreneurship and technology, and will contribute to increased persistence of students toward 4-year degrees at HSIs. These new networks of collaboration will also increase the impact of HSIs on innovation ecosystems. This conference is necessary due to (1) the density of HSIs in Puerto Rico, which is home to 70 institutions with over 150,000 total students, and (2) the need to expand the entrepreneurship and innovation efforts at UPRM to all institutions, especially given the current economic circumstances of the island.

The 2-day conference, in addition to pre- and post-conference meet-ups, will bring together an estimated 150 participants that include HSI education and research leaders, current and potential entrepreneurs, corporate and industry representatives, university administrators, invited guest speakers, undergraduate students, and NSF representatives to reflect on and discuss emerging effective strategies for encouraging links between university and industry, with the important component of undergraduate involvement. The activities will provide ample opportunity for interaction among participants of all backgrounds and levels--including invited undergraduate students--during poster sessions, panel discussions, and invited presentations. This interaction is essential to fully understand the challenges of establishing partnerships between university and industry, and how innovation ecosystems can improve STEM education at HSIs. The conference outcome will be a blueprint for developing innovation ecosystems at HSIs and the establishment of a regional hub for this initiative.
Rodolfo Romanach
PRSan Juan1832427University of Puerto Rico - Rio PiedrasLinkBuilding Capacity: A Collaborative Undergraduate STEM Program in Resilient and Sustainable Infrastructure The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program) aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge about how to achieve these aims. This project will advance the aims of the HSI Program by increasing the number of students who complete baccalaureate degrees in engineering or related degrees in resilient and sustainable infrastructure. This collaborative project between the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) Mayaguez, UPR Rio Piedras and UPR Ponce will develop an interdisciplinary Resilient Infrastructure and Sustainability Program to educate undergraduate STEM students in engineering and related skills needed to respond to natural disasters. After a natural disaster, many different organizations and STEM fields must work together to rebuild the local infrastructure. This project aims to develop an interdisciplinary, shared curriculum that links students enrolled in associate degree programs to baccalaureate degree programs. The project aims to foster student interest and learning by developing a database of case studies based on real events such as the recent devastation caused by Hurricanes Irma and Maria. The project will also facilitate student placement in internship programs and research opportunities with state and federal agency partners, including the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center and the US Department of Homeland Security Coastal Resilience Center of Excellence. These field placements will offer students important experiential learning opportunities, including exposure to real-world problems and the dynamics of the professional work setting. This project expects that these activities will increase the number of students who pursue and complete a baccalaureate degree in STEM related to infrastructure and sustainability.

The project will develop an interdisciplinary curriculum on resilient and sustainable infrastructure that is grounded in the Depth of Knowledge framework. It will investigate the impact of this curriculum on students' higher-order thinking skills, approaches to analysis, and interdisciplinary problem-solving skills. The project will compare students who participate in program with those who do not participate. In addition, retention and graduation rates for participating students will be compared to their peers who do not participate in the program. The project seeks to generate evidence needed to understand factors that motivate students, including underrepresented students, to pursue baccalaureate STEM degrees. An external evaluator will assess the project's development and activities to facilitate project effectiveness and impact. The project will develop case studies on infrastructure damages caused by Hurricanes Irma and Maria will be shared with other institutions as well as STEM professionals continuing their education. This project has the potential to provide students opportunities to aid in current recovery efforts in Puerto Rico as well as prepare students to be able to use STEM to address future infrastructure disruptions. The curriculum itself may provide a model to other institutions seeking to develop STEM curricular programs with deep articulation between associate degree granting and baccalaureate degree granting institutions.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Humberto Cavallin
PRMayaguez1832468University of Puerto Rico MayaguezLinkBuilding Capacity: A Collaborative Undergraduate STEM Program in Resilient and Sustainable Infrastructure The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program) aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge about how to achieve these aims. This project will advance the aims of the HSI Program by increasing the number of students who complete baccalaureate degrees in engineering or related degrees in resilient and sustainable infrastructure. This collaborative project between the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) Mayaguez, UPR Rio Piedras and UPR Ponce will develop an interdisciplinary Resilient Infrastructure and Sustainability Program to educate undergraduate STEM students in engineering and related skills needed to respond to natural disasters. After a natural disaster, many different organizations and STEM fields must work together to rebuild the local infrastructure. This project aims to develop an interdisciplinary, shared curriculum that links students enrolled in associate degree programs to baccalaureate degree programs. The project aims to foster student interest and learning by developing a database of case studies based on real events such as the recent devastation caused by Hurricanes Irma and Maria. The project will also facilitate student placement in internship programs and research opportunities with state and federal agency partners, including the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center and the US Department of Homeland Security Coastal Resilience Center of Excellence. These field placements will offer students important experiential learning opportunities, including exposure to real-world problems and the dynamics of the professional work setting. This project expects that these activities will increase the number of students who pursue and complete a baccalaureate degree in STEM related to infrastructure and sustainability.

The project will develop an interdisciplinary curriculum on resilient and sustainable infrastructure that is grounded in the Depth of Knowledge framework. It will investigate the impact of this curriculum on students' higher-order thinking skills, approaches to analysis, and interdisciplinary problem-solving skills. The project will compare students who participate in program with those who do not participate. In addition, retention and graduation rates for participating students will be compared to their peers who do not participate in the program. The project seeks to generate evidence needed to understand factors that motivate students, including underrepresented students, to pursue baccalaureate STEM degrees. An external evaluator will assess the project's development and activities to facilitate project effectiveness and impact. The project will develop case studies on infrastructure damages caused by Hurricanes Irma and Maria will be shared with other institutions as well as STEM professionals continuing their education. This project has the potential to provide students opportunities to aid in current recovery efforts in Puerto Rico as well as prepare students to be able to use STEM to address future infrastructure disruptions. The curriculum itself may provide a model to other institutions seeking to develop STEM curricular programs with deep articulation between associate degree granting and baccalaureate degree granting institutions.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Carla Lopez del Puerto
PRSan Juan1928543Universidad del Sagrado Corazon, Inc.Increasing Student Success in STEM With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 project titled "Increasing Student Success in STEM" by Universidad del Sagrado Corazon, Inc. (Sagrado) aims to increase the number and percentage of students at Sagrado who select and remain in STEM majors, complete STEM degrees, and secure STEM employment after graduation. In Puerto Rico the shortage of STEM workers is severe after a decade of serious economic decline and recent devastating hurricanes. Sagrado seeks to help first- and second-year students in STEM majors overcome obstacles in gateway math courses, which are nationally acknowledged barriers to STEM success. All Sagrado students (100%) are Hispanic. "Increasing Student Success in STEM" will focus on peer tutoring and mentoring, research and internships, career counseling, industry mentoring, and faculty development, leading to key gateway math course revisions. These improvements aim to increase within-term retention, fall-to-fall retention, six-year graduation, and placement into STEM employment post-graduation. This project will ultimately contribute to increasing locally grown STEM talent in Puerto Rico as a key mechanism to rebuilding the economy. It will also increase Sagrado's capacity to develop and maintain partnerships with key local industries, which will lead to new research and internship experiences for our students. These partnerships will have a lasting impact as the university sustains this model.

In addition to examining how the activities impact the outcomes, this project will generate new knowledge by examining the effect of: (1) peer mentoring on retention in STEM majors; (2) student participation in a research or internship experience early in their undergraduate studies on retention in STEM majors and STEM employment after graduation; (3) industry mentoring and career counseling on retention in STEM majors and STEM employment; and (4) faculty training and curricular revisions and development on retention in STEM majors and STEM employment. Assessment mechanisms will include feedback from student surveys and interviews, and evaluations from research professors and selected partner companies. These will help assess students' confidence and satisfaction in their chosen field, and the effect on students' persistence in the major. Project staff will disseminate the results locally through campus-wide and faculty meetings, and more generally through conference presentations and publications in peer-reviewed journals. Faculty development and student research mentoring activities will include adjunct faculty, which will generate knowledge on how these experiences for part-time (non-tenure stream) STEM instructors improve teaching and learning.

The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these goals.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Agda Cordero
PRSan Juan1928792Inter American University of Puerto Rico San JuanIncreasing Student Engagement and Retention in STEM through advancing Research Experience and Knowledge in Marine Biotechnology ABSTRACT

With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 project aims to increase undergraduate student interest, retention and success in Biological Sciences. This collaborative project at the Barranquitas and Guayama campuses of the Inter American University of Puerto Rico will carry forward the goals of the HSI Program in economically disadvantaged, rural areas of Puerto Rico. The project will target those points along the academic pipeline that represent critical transitions at which students are most likely to switch to non-STEM major or drop-out of college and will do so through innovative changes in STEM teaching and learning. Puerto Rico being an island offers a plethora of opportunities in Marine Biotechnology from the standpoint of research as well as industrial applications. However, there has been very little progress in this direction, chiefly due to a serious lack of educational offerings in the area of marine biotechnology at institutions of higher education in Puerto Rico, which in turn translates into lack of trained personnel in this area. By introducing a minor concentration in Marine Biotechnology, along with an elective course in Blue Chemistry at the undergraduate level, this project aims to revitalize the undergraduate biology program, as well as train undergraduates to assume roles in academia, policy-making and industry.

The specific goals of this project are (1) enhancing Hispanic student opportunities attaining degrees in STEM education through critical transition utilizing new courses and curriculum revision; and 2) improving the Hispanic students' STEM learning experience by research/problem-based learning, collaboration between two campuses and modern laboratory activities including a teaching museum. The project will generate new knowledge about how a research-focused learning experience at the undergraduate level combined with the support from tutorial services and faculty trained in modern scientific tools and techniques can contribute to higher retention and degree attainment in STEM. Further, it will generate knowledge about the impact of introducing a minor in an applied, job-oriented area of study, such as Marine Biotechnology, on the number of students choosing a STEM major. In addition, the project will assess if and how a community science center such as a marine museum can encourage high school students to enroll in STEM courses in college. The effectiveness of these interventions will be evaluated through a mixed-methods evaluation and will include a combination of the before-and-after study design and both quantitative and qualitative methods providing data for both formative and summative evaluation. The findings of this project will be disseminated widely through symposia, publications and through a dedicated website. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these goals.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Alok Arun
PRCarolina1953640Sistema Universitario Ana G. Mendez, IncorporadoSupporting the Academic Journey of STEM Students through Research and Work Experiences in Puerto Rico With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program, this Track 1 project focuses on enhancing undergraduate STEM education, with the goal of increasing the success of low-income students in STEM degree programs. The project proposes to do so by providing students with discovery-based research experiences and career development opportunities. The project team expects that these experiences will increase students’ self-efficacy and, thus, improve their overall academic performance. In addition, the project team expects that students will become more interested in pursuing graduate studies or STEM careers. The project will establish collaborative partnerships and alliances with industries and institutions in Puerto Rico to develop the internships. Participation in these internships is expected to help students develop the skills needed to succeed in STEM careers, thus broadening participation in the STEM workforce. By the end of the project, the University expects to increase the first-year retention rate to 80% in Biology and Biotechnology Bachelor of Science bachelor's degree programs.

This project's objectives include providing research experiences and career internships to STEM students with the expected outcomes of clarifying, refining, and reinforcing students' persistence in STEM fields. The specific goals of the project include implementing discovery-based research experiences in first- and second-year biology courses to spark students’ curiosity and develop their scientific identities. After their third year, STEM majors will engage in professional development activities and have access to internships. The effectiveness of project activities will be evaluated through a mixed-methods research design, integrating quantitative and qualitative data to assess and understand the underlying factors affecting students' performance in STEM academic programs. The project ultimately aims to enhance the academic experience of low-income students, particularly Hispanic students, leading to an increase in retention rates in STEM programs. Dissemination of this project's objectives, activities, outcomes, and findings will occur through publications and symposia aimed the academic and scientific communities, industry stakeholders, and the community at large. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Karlo Malave-Llamas
PRSan Juan2008186University of Puerto RicoLouis Stokes STEM Pathways and Research Alliance: Puerto Rico-LSAMP - Expanding Opportunities for Underrepresented College Students (2020-2025) The Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program assists universities and colleges in diversifying the STEM workforce through their efforts at significantly increasing the numbers of students successfully completing high quality degree programs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Particular emphasis is placed on transforming STEM education through innovative recruitment and retention strategies and experiences in support of groups historically under-represented in STEM disciplines: African-Americans, Alaskan Natives, American Indians, Hispanic Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Native Pacific Islanders.

The 2020-2024 Puerto Rico Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (PR-LSAMP) STEM Pathways and Research Alliance (SPRA) project, under the leadership of the University of Puerto Rico, will build on the successes of previous support to attract, recruit and retain STEM students in undergraduate and graduate studies to degree completion. The alliance is comprised of: (1) the University of Puerto Rico System: two graduate campuses - Río Piedras and Mayaguez and six 4-year campuses - Aguadilla, Arecibo, Bayamon, Cayey, Humacao, and Ponce; (2) the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico; and (3) the Ana G. Méndez University System - the Universidad Metropolitana, Universidad del Este, and Universidad del Turabo. PR-LSAMP provides a model for a seamless pipeline to increase the number of underrepresented minority groups that complete a PhD in STEM fields. It documents and disseminates the effectiveness of the replicable undergraduate research mentoring strategy to increase the number of underrepresented students that continue on to graduate studies and contribute to the diversity of the nation's STEM workforce. Furthermore, it disseminates and applies concepts of Learning Science to improve learning and teaching in STEM disciplines in a transformative manner.


A requirement of this project is the production and dissemination of broadening participation research. Thus, the project will conduct impact studies to answer the following questions: (1) Which components of the PR-LSAMP model are more effective at mediating changes in different institutional or regional contexts? and (2) To what extent does participating in the PR-LSAMP model changes student’s non-cognitive attributes (self-efficacy, outcome expectations and STEM interest)?

Support for this project is provided by the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), that aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs, the Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP), and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Luis Ferrao 
PRSan Juan2114401Inter American University of Puerto Rico San JuanCollaborative Research: HSI Pilot Project: Research for Improved Student Experiences in STEM (RISE in STEM) With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 project, Research for Improved Student Experiences (RISE) in STEM aims to promote student success in STEM on the Ponce and Bayamon campuses of the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico (IAUPR) by implementing improved teaching practices and student supports in select introductory STEM courses. Using collaborative undergraduate research experiences and academic advising, this program seeks improve student success rates in “gateway” lab courses. The two campuses that will collaborate in this project to serve a population of students that is 99% Hispanic, majority low-income and first-generation college students. By improving success rates in these gateway courses, the RISE in STEM project will allow these students to persist and succeed in STEM degree attainment, thereby broadening participation in STEM. Additionally, this pilot program will generate evidence to support track 2 funding and expansion of the program for its future system-wide institutionalization at IAUPR’s nine campuses.

CURE-laboratory courses, in a collaborative setting, will be designed and piloted, academic advisement will be implemented, and faculty development workshops will be conducted as mechanisms for improving student perceptions and performance on the Ponce and Bayamon Campuses of the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico. This innovate project is based on the importance of collaborations between teams at different campuses which provide robust learning experiences for future STEM professionals, including developing skills for graduate studies and jobs in the 21st century. It is expected that students develop psychological and behavioral gains such as increased confidence, self-efficacy, project ownership, scientific identity and a sense of belonging. Many of these psychological “gains” are evidence-supported metrics for quantifying changes in student perceptions that are linked to improved retention and graduation rates in STEM. This project will generate new knowledge about how a multi-campus, multi-faculty, multi-peer leader collaborative model in CUREs, combined with academic advisement, can contribute to increased student perceptions and performance at HSIs. External evaluation of the program will measure student perceptions on key, evidence-based constructs (sense of belonging, science identity, self-efficacy, interest in STEM and intention to persist in STEM) in a pre/post-test designed specifically for the pilot program and will generate preliminary longitudinal data. Finally, student performance will be measured and analyzed via quasi-experimental design methods, comparing treatment and non-treatment student grades using matched t-tests to generate evidence of program impacts. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Merlis Alvarez-Berrios
PRPonce2114437Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto RicoThe Research Advancement among Careers and Education for Success in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (RACE for Success in STEM) With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 project aims to diminish weaknesses in solving problems and critical thinking skills in mathematics, English, and Spanish among first-year science students. The Research Advancement among Careers and Education for Success in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (RACE for Success in STEM) at Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico-Ponce Campus (PCUPR) is a two-year interdisciplinary research project with a holistic approach. The project also aims to integrate social issues, which are vital elements of their emotional stability, self-confidence, and self-motivation at the undergraduate level. Students who will participate in our project are affected by today's socioeconomic hardships, academic adversity, and natural events like Hurricane Maria, Earthquakes, and COVID-19. Therefore, this project plans to compensate with a complete set of components that address the academic disparities and interpersonal intelligence. This project design will enhance the educational capacity, research skills, and sense of belonging of first-year undergraduate Hispanic students to improve retention and graduation rates in STEM fields.

The RACE for Success in STEM specific aims are: (1) To improve students' foundational academic skills needed to excel in STEM education; (2) To develop new strategies that support student transitions to advanced STEM careers through the information obtained from the student's family and social context; (3) To promote retention and inclusion by providing research, critical thinking and reading comprehension activities, empowering the students with skills necessary for the future; and (4) To elicit a sense of belonging in STEM education through peer-leading and research-leading activities. This proposal is a pilot project that will use a mixed-method design with qualitative (interviews and focal groups) and quantitative (GPA, course grades, and surveys) data. The proposed project consists of a pilot group compared to the rest of the student group (control) of freshman students registered in mathematics, English, and Spanish. The pilot group will also participate in the Student Developmental Plan consisting of the Self-Management Skills Development Program and the First Experience Summer Research Internship. The expected outcomes will show improvements in retention, academic performance, and persistence among first-year students and within the workforce in STEM. The proposed project will impact the curriculum in courses like Math, Spanish, and English, leaving an Institutional legacy with a new program in peer-leading and research-leading activities well designed and essential for students' success in STEM. The researchers will disseminate the project outcomes to the community through brief reports and local and national meetings (e.g., HSI Program). This study's activities and results will also be available online to the interested public through our home page: http://pucpr.edu, a section dedicated to the Pilot Project: RACE for Success in STEM. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Zaira Mateo-Mayol
PRAguadilla2122203University of Puerto Rico at AguadillaHSI Implementation and Evaluation Project: Strengthening Teaching and Advancing Research Partnerships to Reinforce the STEM Workforce With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this project from the University of Puerto Rico at Aguadilla aims to understand factors that improve STEM undergraduate education and help Hispanic students of Puerto Rico succeed in their STEM courses of study. It will do so by helping faculty members develop and implement evidence-based teaching practices to improve student learning and by providing opportunities for students to engage in the high impact practices of undergraduate research experiences and internships. Innovative aspects of this project are the collaborations with other federal agencies (e.g. the US Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration) and Pennsylvania State University, a major research-intensive university. The project will answer the research questions: (i) What evidence-based active learning strategies and interventions are successful at HSIs? (ii) What institutional programs lead to increased retention and graduation rates for students majoring in STEM fields?

Two goals guide the Strengthening Teaching and Advancing Research Partnerships(STARp) project. First is to implement new active learning pedagogies in gatekeeper STEM courses to increase the retention of students in STEM majors. Second is to involve students in undergraduate research and citizen science projects to increase their persistence in STEM education and pursuit of STEM career paths. The STARp project will use evidence-based approaches that have been shown to improve student success of traditionally underrepresented groups in STEM. This project will improve undergraduate education by using the flipped classroom approach where the professor delivers course content outside the classroom and then engages students in live problem-solving during class time. In addition, the STARp project will provide experiential opportunities for research and internships to improve students’ transition to graduate programs and the STEM workforce. It will also target the critical second-to-third year transition through citizen science projects in which undergraduate students train and lead high school students in their creation of a community-based research project. The five-year project will identify factors that develop student interest to continue postgraduate studies and/or integration into the STEM workforce. A mixed methods research approach will be used to assess the impact of each intervention. The strategies employed by the STARp project are aimed to broaden representation in the STEM fields. The results are expected to be used as models for other Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) seeking to overcome obstacles to undergraduate student success in STEM. The project’s best strategies, activities, and success will be shared in publications, web pages, and social media. The knowledge generated by the STARp project has the potential to contribute to a diversified STEM Workforce. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Yadira Malavez
PRSan Juan2122417University of Puerto Rico - Rio PiedrasPreparing the Next Generation of Environmental Scientists through Research-based Coursework and Community Internships There is a critical need for a more robust environmental workforce in Puerto Rico that mirrors similar demands across the United States in multiple sectors, including energy generation, food cultivation, and environmental protection. Additionally, a larger cohort of well-prepared professionals could positively impact the island’s future ability to respond to unexpected environmental catastrophes including increased frequency and intensity of hurricanes, flooding, coastal erosion, coral reef mortality, and reduced biodiversity. To address this opportunity, this project - with support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program) - aims to provide experiences that will engage undergraduate students in the study of environmental science and lead to an expansion of this critical workforce. In particular, the project targets students during their first two years as undergraduates, which are known to be crucial in fostering positive student perceptions towards the discipline and successful academic outcomes. Incoming freshman will participate in a summer research project that will provide hands-on experiences to build excitement and contribute to a more thorough understanding of future careers. Throughout their course of study, students will engage in four content-rich courses with substantial field work components and will have opportunities to participate in community-facing internships. The proposed courses and experiences will be embedded in the regular environmental science undergraduate curriculum, thereby enriching the current degree requirements while providing innovative academic strategies for students through practical experiences created with the purpose of improving student retention.

The proposed project has three main objectives. First is to create annual El Verde Field Station (EVFS) Summer Research experiences to attract 30 incoming freshmen. Second is to design an Environmental Analysis Training curriculum to improve technical skills. And third is to develop a paid internship program to bring environmental science undergraduates and local employers together. A longitudinal, quasi-experimental study will be employed to evaluate the hypothesis that the treatment sequence in the program will contribute to improving environmental science student retention, enhancing content knowledge, and expanding students’ technical skills. Quantitative and qualitative approaches will provide evidence-based data to determine if there is an individual and/or additive effect of the project components on participant students’ attitudes and persistence in environmental science undergraduate studies. Expected products include student-generated environmental science research videos demonstrating techniques and documenting their experiences in the program, conference presentations, journal publications, and meetings and workshops at University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras with high school teachers and counselors to share project outcomes. Furthermore, curricula, educational resources, and research instruments will be available for sharing with teachers and researchers. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Elizabeth Dvorsky
PRMayaguez2150461University of Puerto Rico MayaguezHSI Implementation and Evaluation Project: Paradigm for Sustainability and Resilience Engineering: A Transdisciplinary, Learner-Centered, and Diversity-Focused Approach With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 2: IEP aims to create a new Minor of Sustainability Engineering at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez, as a precursor to the creation of a full Bachelor’s degree program in this field. Clearly, addressing “Sustainability” is an overarching challenge for the 21st century at local, national, and international levels. Having a cadre of engineers who are broadly trained in sustainability is vital to ensure the quality of life for current and future generations. Today in the United States, undergraduate degree programs in “Sustainability” are of two types: interdisciplinary programs that do not grant engineering degrees, and Environmental Engineering programs that do not broadly address sustainability. However, there are no undergraduate engineering degree programs in the US that are comprehensively oriented around sustainability. Therefore, a new type of engineering program is needed – to complement, not substitute – the existing approaches to sustainability education and engineering education. Toward this end, this project will work collaboratively with stakeholders to create a new Minor program that will feature active recruitment, an immersive summer camp, new courses, a community of practice, and cooperative learning experiences that will promote workforce development in Puerto Rico with local partners. The Minor will take a socio-technical approach that mingles engineering with the humanities, and will challenge students to work with diverse members of vulnerable communities as co-designers, culminating with the aspiration “to develop professionals to work under the People, Prosperity, Planet, Partnership and Peace paradigm that strives to foster human well-being in balance with the biosphere”. This positive, social responsibility framework will be instrumental for recruiting women and students from other underrepresented populations.

The project will investigate mindsets and competencies that relate to sustainable engineering, using a Delphi study with a broad pool of stakeholders to identify and rank what is essential for “sustainable engineering”. In parallel to this, using existing survey instruments as a basis, the evolution of student mindset in four domains — self-efficacy, engineering and technology, the conception of sustainability, and diversity, equity and inclusion — will be studied qualitatively and longitudinally as students progress through the program; this will occur through interviews, reflective activities embedded in course activities and assignments, and observation in program activities. A parallel program evaluation will be led by an external evaluator to measure the impact of the project on student profiles, particularly on the recruitment of women. The strategies of the project are anticipated to lead to measurable increases in female enrollment in the engineering programs in which women are least represented, particularly in fields related to Computing and Electrical Engineering. In aggregate, this work will result in new instruments for gauging a next-generation “sustainability engineering mindset”, and a corresponding model for recruitment and curricular design. As an extension of the mindset research, the project will serve to normalize diversity, equity, and inclusion practices at the University, including informing new practices for collecting and maintaining demographic data. A new cadre of bilingual, Hispanic students, with increased representation of women, will be broadly trained for meaningful, sustainability-focused employment in Puerto Rico, particularly through partnerships with key stakeholders. Through direct budget support, as well as interaction with a pool of highly-trained, sustainability-focused engineers, these partners will be able to strengthen and expand their enterprises, feeding into the emerging circular economy and ecosystem in Puerto Rico. In summary, the project will support the objectives of the HSI Program, which aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Christopher Papadopoulos
PRSan Juan2214418University of Puerto Rico - Rio PiedrasADVANCE Catalyst: Virtual Observatory of Culture for Equity in Academia at the University of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras (VoCEA) The goal of the NSF ADVANCE Catalyst at the University of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras campus (UPRRP) is to assess critical components of the organizational culture of the institution that prevent effective “counting” of academic women and their efforts and contributions in STEM. Using a cultural organizational (SCO) framework the project will address four questions: 1) What role does institutional research and institutional data dissemination play in organizational culture, 2) Are gender equity and inclusion integrated into observable artifacts, values, norms, and underlying assumptions at UPRRP, 3) What role does gender equity and inclusion play in the socialization of new UPRRP members, including gaining academic citizenship, and 4) ) To what extent can strategic microplanning catalyze change at UPRRP?

The UPRRP Catalyst project is called VoCEA for Virtual Observatory for Culture Equity in Academia, vocea means “to raise your voice” in Spanish. The project will collect and analyze institutional data about STEM faculty to identify and understand systemic gender-based equity and organizational culture issues. The project is designed to open discussions across the institution and question the status quo. VoCEA will result in the development of a five-year STEM faculty equity plan for UPRRP with performance indicators tied to equity, multiculturality, and accountability.

The NSF ADVANCE program is designed to foster gender equity through a focus on the identification and elimination of organizational barriers that impede the full participation and advancement of diverse faculty in academic institutions. Organizational barriers that inhibit equity may exist in policies, processes, practices, and the organizational culture and climate. ADVANCE "Catalyst" awards provide support for institutional equity assessments and the development of five-year faculty equity strategic plans at academic, non-profit institutions of higher education.

This project was supported with co-funding of the HSI Program which aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Carla Restrepo
PRSan Juan2215753University of Puerto Rico - Rio PiedrasDeveloping Foundations for Nanopore DNA Sequencing Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences at Minority-Serving Institutions This project aims to serve the national interest by making it easier for educators to integrate advanced DNA sequencing technologies and related laboratory and data science skills into their teaching. DNA sequencing allows us to read the instructions contained in DNA — the so-called “molecule of life”. DNA sequencing has impacted every area of biology, enabling researchers to understand more about how life works. This technology is used for research that boosts agriculture, monitors biodiversity, creates energy solutions, and improves human health. Previously, DNA sequencing was expensive and time consuming, but technological improvements have lowered the cost and the time involved. Preparing the next generation of researchers to use this advanced technology is essential, but few undergraduate biology educators are equipped to do this. Reasons for this include complex protocols, lack of lesson materials, insufficient computer skills, and educator perceptions of earlier, less accurate versions of this technology. In this project, the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory DNA Learning Center will work with three partner institutions to reduce these barriers to using advanced DNA sequencing technology in the classroom. Together with New York City College of Technology, Spelman College, and University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras, the project team will co-develop protocols and teaching tools that integrate advanced DNA sequencing into hands-on training for biology undergraduates. Faculty from these institutions and other partners include 2- and 4-year, Hispanic-serving, and Historically Black institutions, maximizing the potential that the solutions developed can be successfully implemented in a variety of college settings. Independent evaluation of the project will lay a foundation for future dissemination at a national level and will support efforts to create a highly skilled and diverse US STEM workforce.

The first project objective intends to develop a biochemistry and bioinformatics workflow to design a kit of reagents and classroom-friendly protocols that minimize cost, are easy-to-use, and are customized to support course-based student research projects. Existing NSF-funded computing solutions (e.g., CyVerse, JetStream, XSEDE) will support prototype bioinformatics workflows, and sample datasets. The project team will develop demonstration DNA sequencing projects (e.g., genome assembly, biodiversity studies, and metagenomics) that explore compelling research questions and that can be integrated into undergraduate coursework. Each project will organize faculty from partner institutions into mentoring networks to promote the development of a “community of practice.” This approach will support the application of evidence-based curriculum guidelines as faculty iteratively develop lessons, devise solutions to implementation challenges, and pilot materials with students. Expert researchers and educators will provide advice on achieving both the scientific and pedagogical goals of the project. Project evaluation will advance our understanding of the barriers to faculty adoption of DNA sequencing technology in course-based research experiences using published assessment tools. The data collected will be applied to fill gaps in knowledge about barriers to student research at minority-serving institutions. Lessons learned will be shared at the institutional level, through virtual networks for genomics and computational biology education, and at national conferences. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Level 1 Institutional and Community Transformation track, the program supports efforts to transform and improve STEM education across institutions of higher education and disciplinary communities. This project is also supported by the NSF IUSE:HSI program, which has the goals of enhancing the quality of undergraduate STEM education, and increasing the recruitment, retention, and graduation rates of students pursuing associate’s or baccalaureate degrees in STEM.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Jose Agosto-Rivera
PRHumacao2218965University of Puerto Rico at HumacaoPuerto Rican Higher Education Researchers Association, Thriving not just Surviving (HEARTS) conference With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this conference aims to support faculty in Puerto Rico so that they can impact the retention and graduation rates of Hispanic students through implementing best practices and improving faculty wellness, resulting in improved student/faculty engagement and faculty grant-writing skills. Puerto Rican faculty are in urgent need of physical, emotional, pedagogical, and financial support so that they can refresh, rejuvenate, and adapt to transition from surviving to thriving in this pandemic-fueled “new normal.” The Puerto Rican Higher Education Researchers Association, Thriving not just Surviving (HEARTS) Conference will provide this support for faculty to heal, learn, share and grow to better support Hispanic STEM students and the HSIs of Puerto Rico. The conference will bring together faculty in higher education research programs from across the island. The conference will address topics of wellness, grant-writing support, best practices for virtual and/or hybrid learning (especially in STEM) and culturally competent pedagogy. These four topics, combined into one event, will offer holistic support for the faculty that are on the frontlines of the implementation of education research programming that seeks to improve outcomes for Hispanic students in STEM and broadly in higher education in Puerto Rico. Faculty will be better equipped to meet the challenges of this “new normal” if they are supported by each other, focused on their own wellness, trained for writing competitive grants, and trained in best practices for hybrid and/or virtual STEM instruction in a culturally supportive environment to promote the success of Hispanic STEM students.

The design and analysis of this mixed-methods evaluative research study are based on Kezar’s (2013) framework of organizational learning through “sensemaking.” The project will help faculty “make sense” of their value and how they require personal wellness and stronger communities to be effective. Participants in the conference will learn about successful capacity-building efforts of other STEM faculty and administrators which resulted in student success. The conference will address the topics of (1) faculty wellness, (2) creating communities through sustained dialogues, (3) grant-writing, and (4) culturally responsive pedagogies. The main goals are to (1) equip HSI faculty from PR to meet the challenges of today’s “new normal” by focusing on their own wellness; (2) create a sustained dialogue on the importance of collaboration among HSIs in Puerto Rico and in the US; (3) empower faculty to use best practices for Hispanic students to promote the success and (4) receive training for competitive grant-writing (to secure funds to support their work). The conference activities will generate evidence of faculty improved faculty wellbeing, sense of belonging, self-efficacy in grant-writing, and implementation of best practices in the classroom to support STEM students. This evidence will be used to seek additional funding to support yearly iterations of the conference with the long-term goal of forming a self-sustaining education research association on the island that will foster long-term excellence in higher education research for HSIs in Puerto Rico as well as collaborations with the US mainland to promote education research that builds capacity for student success. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Lilliam Casillas-Martinez
PRSan Juan2224801Polytechnic University of Puerto RicoHSI Pilot Project: Enhancing Undergraduate Engineering Education Using an Integrated Additive Manufacturing Approach With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 project aims to develop a variety of educational resources based on additive manufacturing (AM), which is the process of using 3D printers and related technologies to create objects layer-by-layer. This project aims to engage students at Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico (PUPR) in new AM courses and experiences and address the growing need for a skilled AM workforce. Like many institutions, PUPR looks to: (1) increase persistence rates among its engineering students; (2) develop capacity for teaching in emerging technologies to enhance the quality of engineering education; (3) incorporate engaging and student-centered pedagogies; and (4) foster a culture of interdisciplinary education on campus. In order to address these challenging goals, PUPR will develop new curricular content that integrates project-based learning (PBL) to enhance student engagement and promote important workforce skills. The resources to be developed through this project are: (1) AM modules integrated into engineering fundamental courses; (2) faculty professional development in PBL pedagogy and AM; and (3) a new, interdisciplinary AM course. As part of the project activities, students will be tasked with interdisciplinary team projects to be developed in a hybrid working environment that combines remote and in-person manufacturing tasks. The anticipated outcomes of this project include increases in positive student outcomes, enhanced student preparation for AM-infused careers, engaging new courses, and and expanded community of PBL practitioners at PUPR.

The main goal of this pilot project is to expand high impact practices and on campus opportunities based on AM to promote student’s persistence and success. The objectives of this project are to: (1) increase faculty capacity for incorporating AM and PBL; (2) foster an interdisciplinary culture on campus; and (3) expand participation of students in AM experiences in order to strengthen student engagement, self-efficacy, identity, and engineering skills. It is expected that the project's activities will increase the persistence and success of students participating in the project. The project team will deploy multiple quantitative and qualitative assessment tools (pre- and post-surveys, interviews, student tests and rubrics) that will allow the project to explore the impacts and effectiveness of the proposed activities. It is expected that the resources developed through this project will help promote AM education in Puerto Rico, since there is no local higher education institution offering specialized courses in this field. Also, materials and generated evidence will be disseminated broadly, through social media, websites, educational journals, and conferences. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity, more generally, at HSIs.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Omar Movil
TXLaredo1759134Laredo Community College Nora Garza
TXCollege Station1764268Texas A&M Engineering Experiment StationHSI Conference: Stakeholder Perspectives on Challenges and Opportunities for Improving Undergraduate STEM Education at HSIs The Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station, Angelo State University, El Centro College, West Texas A&M University, Del Mar College, Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Texas Tech University, Texas Woman's University, and the Texas Association of Chicanos in Higher Education, will conduct a conference titled Stakeholder Perspectives on Challenges and Opportunities for Improving Undergraduate STEM Education at Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs). Up to 140 students, faculty, staff, administrators, advocates, and funders will identify challenges and opportunities for improving STEM education at 2- and 4-year HSIs, building capacity for and student participation in STEM research, and implementing institutional change for addressing barriers to Latinx student success in STEM. Nationwide surveys of stakeholders will further explore themes from the conference, and results will be disseminated to the HSI community and NSF to inform funding and institutional initiatives. The conference was proposed in response to a Dear Colleague Letter issued by the National Science Foundation (NSF) calling for submission of conference proposals to inform the design of NSF's new Hispanic-Serving Institution program, to be established in fiscal year 2018.

The conference will 1) identify the specific challenges 2- and 4-year HSIs face in adopting evidence-based institutional changes for improving STEM education and Latinx student success, with a specific focus on areas the National Science Foundation could potentially address through targeted funding opportunities; 2) identify challenges and opportunities for 2- and 4-year HSIs in building capacity for research and expanding STEM instruction and other Latinx student supports through collaborations with other institutions and by pursuing appropriate funding opportunities; 3) solicit Latinx STEM student and alumni perspectives on barriers to success in STEM and psychosociocultural tailoring of institutional changes to meet Latinx student needs and improve STEM education at HSIs; and 4) conduct a follow-up survey of stakeholders at 2- and 4-year HSIs across the country to capture a more representative cross-section of their needs, challenges, and priorities based on themes developed through focus groups, semi-structured interviews, and conference discussions. Attendees and presenters will participate in focus groups, semi-structured interviews, and roundtable discussions that will generate key themes of interest to NSF and the broader HSI community, and these themes will be integrated in a stakeholder survey to quantify related 2- and 4-year HSI needs and priorities. Results are expected to inform NSF's new HSI program and contribute to an improved understanding of institutional barriers/opportunities and student perspectives on improving Latinx student recruitment, retention, and advancement in STEM. In addition to informing NSF's new HSI program, conference and survey results will be disseminated to all HSIs and the broader student success research community by making reports available online, presenting results at relevant conferences, and publishing in peer-reviewed journals.
William Kitch
TXEl Paso1764378University of Texas at El PasoCollaborative HSI Conference: Co-Designing an Engineering Education Research Agenda The National Science Foundation Dear Colleague letter NSF 17-092: Improving Undergraduate STEM Education in Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) calls for conference proposals that will help identify challenges and opportunities in STEM education at Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs). Given the lack of resources that many engineering educators face attending conferences, this proposal consists of a series of traveling workshops that target engineering educators from HSIs. The focus on these workshops is to leverage design thinking methodologies to better understand the HSI institutional context and co-develop research need with educators through an iterative and emergent analysis process.

The two-day workshops will take place at the University of Texas at El Paso (PI institution) and the University of Miami (Coral Gables, FL). Texas and Florida have some of the highest concentration of HSIs in the country, and both locations are within a short driving distance to several 2-year and 4-year institutions considered HSIs. Pre-workshop activities will help participants establish a baseline understanding of the needs, values, cultures, and characteristics of participants and their home institutions. During the workshop, participants will be introduced to three educational approaches that will help them examine their own beliefs and contexts and develop initial questions of interest about their institution, their students, and themselves as it relates to positively impacting the educational experiences of their students. The three approaches are Design Thinking, Intrinsic Motivation, and students as Empowered Agents. Using these ideas, participants will also develop a prototype of something they can try upon returning to their institution, and, through this prototyping process, they will continue to record emerging research questions and needs. A follow-up workshop at the ASEE Conference in June of 2018 will allow participants to share their reactions to their prototype experience. This workshop will also serve to disseminate and refine the resulting research agenda. The expected outcomes of this proposal are to produce (1) a set of research questions and needs to support the National Science Foundation's development of an HSI-focused research agenda, (2) educational experiments and prototypes for dissemination within the conference community and (3) a conference-design framework for identifying non-obvious research needs and engaging educators in the engineering education research and scholarship process.
Meagan Kendall
TXAustin1832282Saint Edward's UniversityBuilding Capacity: Institute for Interdisciplinary Science: Preparing Students for the 4th Industrial Revolution The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program) aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI program will also generate new knowledge about how to achieve these aims. This project at St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas aims to create the Institute for Interdisciplinary Science. The Institute will support student workforce training, cross-sector cooperation, and interdisciplinary activities that can prepare faculty and students for opportunities in the 4th Industrial Revolution. This revolution is predicted to produce a virtually-connected world in which digital, physical, and biological domains are intertwined. It is a world of smart homes, cloud computing, big data analytics, e-commerce, robotics, and artificial intelligence. As the 4th Industrial Revolution unfolds, collaborations between industry and higher education become critical to ensure that graduates have the knowledge and skills to be successful in the new workplace. The Institute will facilitate these collaborations by developing mutually beneficial industry-academia partnerships, providing professional development and research opportunities, and facilitating networking for exchange of new directions and ideas. The Institute's partnerships with companies will offer summer internships, which can provide economic support and encouragement to students pursuing STEM degrees, and support eventual entry into STEM careers. In turn, students will contribute to research and development in the digital era, furthering the objectives of the companies where they work. This project has the potential to serve as a model for other institutions, especially HSIs and other Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs), to develop programs with similar goals, thus broadening participation and increasing diversity in the STEM workforce.

This project will support efforts of the School of Natural Sciences at St. Edward's University to build capacity in interdisciplinary sciences, informatics, and emerging technologies and to increase students' readiness for the 4th Industrial Revolution. The Institute aims to establish an educational and professional framework that will facilitate cross-sector partnerships and interdisciplinary collaborations. The Institute will: (i) coordinate on-campus interdisciplinary seminars and experiential learning events that will challenge faculty and students to explore complicated problems with cross-disciplinary approaches; (ii) organize cross-sector cooperative agreements with public and private entities around the Austin, Texas area and beyond; (iii) expose STEM majors to postgraduate opportunities by connecting them with employers and graduate programs through guaranteed internships; (iv) finance faculty and student professional development by offering awards to faculty and micro-credentialing scholarships to students; and (v) catalyze faculty advancement, interdisciplinary collaborations, and innovative research by offering research opportunity awards. The project's research questions will focus on effects of the interventions on student persistence and on whether faculty professional development grants and research opportunity awards are a means to enhance student success. Together, these activities are designed to improve student access and success in the emerging 4th Industrial Revolution.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Bilal Shebaro
TXSan Antonio1832388University of Texas at San AntonioLinkBuilding Capacity: Transforming STEM Undergraduate Education through Academic Literacy, Mentoring, and Professional Development The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program) aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI program will also generate new knowledge about how to achieve these aims. This project at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) will advance the aims of the HSI Program by developing new curricula and methods of instruction that increase student persistence and success. The project will implement a faculty development framework that helps faculty: 1) connect their course content to students' background knowledge; 2) demonstrate connections between lower level and upper level courses; and 3) help students develop professional identities that can lead them into STEM careers. The project will focus on developing students' ability to understand the complex language of science, including words and visual representations, such as graphs, charts, and diagrams. Expected outcomes are that faculty will develop expertise in innovative, evidence-based teaching approaches that enhance student learning, and that students will develop marketable skills needed for success in STEM careers.

The overall goal of this project is to develop new methods of instruction and associated curricular change with an explicit focus on the intersection of academic literacy and content competencies. This goal will be achieved through the application of evidence-based teaching approaches, coaching of STEM faculty to improve student learning, and by providing student mentoring and professional development experiences. The project includes the following specific tasks: 1) Developing and improving undergraduate STEM students' integrated understanding of academic literacy and core competencies; 2) Creating interdisciplinary professional development lesson study groups of instructors to engage in sustainable instructional and curricular change; 3) Aligning STEM curricula between lower and upper division courses; 4) Developing a near-peer mentoring program for sophomore and junior level STEM students; 5) Providing research opportunities and professional development activities for STEM students; and 6) Evaluating the relevance and effectiveness of the institutional curricular redesign. These proposed activities focus on the critical transition between lower and upper level undergraduate courses, a key transition for student retention and graduation in STEM. In addition, innovative cross-disciplinary partnerships will be established between collaborating STEM and Education faculty. These partnerships will create lesson study groups of instructors that draw explicit attention to the role of academic literacy in the development of strong university-level STEM teaching and learning. The proposed plan builds on the dedication of UTSA to increasing diversity in the STEM workforce. This plan is an integrated approach to increase the number of undergraduate underrepresented minorities who graduate from the UTSA Colleges of Engineering and Sciences. It is expected that the program will benefit STEM undergraduates at UTSA by increasing their retention rates, critical thinking skills, professional knowledge, self-efficacy, graduation rates, and professional and workforce preparedness.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Heather Shipley
TXSan Antonio1832433Texas A&M University-San AntonioNew to NSF: Recruiting and Retaining Students into Computing The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program) aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims. This project at Texas A&M University-San Antonio will advance the aims of the HSI Program by increasing the retention and completion rates of students in computer science and to better equip them to achieve careers cyber security. The project also plans to increase the number of transfer of students who transfer from two-year colleges into computer science programs at the University. The project plans to integrate cyber security topics throughout the entire computer science curriculum, so that students will obtain an NSA Cyber Defense Education certificate upon graduation. This certification can increase the competitiveness of the graduates in high-demand jobs.

The objectives of this program are to broaden and strengthen the pipeline of students, including Hispanic students, entering the field of computing and cyber security. To meet workforce demands, the project will develop a computer science undergraduate computer science program in which cyber security topics are integrated throughout the curriculum. The project also seeks to increase the retention rates and strengthen the marketability of students by enabling student to automatically earn a certificate in cyber security education upon graduation. Computer science researchers will collaborate with curriculum and instruction researchers to develop cyber security modules for use throughout the computer science curriculum. These modules will contextualize computing topics via a cyber security lens. To assist in the retention of students, the cyber security modules will use Model Eliciting Activities, a teaching and learning methodology that has been demonstrated to be particularly effective for women and other groups that are underrepresented in engineering. The project includes a partnership between the team of computing and education researchers at Texas A&M University-San Antonio and the computing departments of rural Laredo Community College and urban San Antonio College, both of which are Hispanic-serving community colleges. The community college partnerships will increase opportunities for student transfer, while the curriculum changes and use of inclusive pedagogy should increase the likelihood that students persist and graduate with degrees in computing that can enable them to launch careers within computing fields. Through a design experiment methodology, the project will investigate the impact of Model Eliciting Activities and the incorporation of cyber security on instructor effectiveness and student attitudes and performance. This research results could inform the practices of other computer science and related programs that seek to increase student success and diversity in computing programs.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Jeong Yang
TXEdinburg1832523The University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyBuilding Capacity: Transforming Undergraduate Education in STEM Through Culturally Relevant Pedagogy and Community Engagement The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program) aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims. This project at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley will advance the aims of the HSI Program by increasing the retention and graduation of undergraduate students in science and mathematics. The project plans to achieve its goals by offering well-designed, high impact STEM courses that build upon culture, community engagement, and regionally-relevant research. To these ends, this project will train STEM faculty in culturally relevant pedagogy and community engaged scholarship. These faculty will then develop new mathematics and biology "gateway" courses for first year/early career students, offered in a bilingual modality. The faculty will also develop new classes in Community Engaged Scholarship and Learning, which will emphasize meaningful engagement in community-based STEM-related projects. By emphasizing the broader, societal relevance of STEM fields, these new courses will help first year students develop a sense of belonging and commitment. It is expected that these innovations will enhance students' success in STEM, helping to address a national need to increase diversity in STEM fields.

This project will design and implement professional development workshops to help faculty develop inclusive, culturally relevant teaching practices, and to help faculty implement effective community engagement and experiential learning in STEM. These faculty will develop and teach new introductory core biology and math courses ("gateway courses") in a bilingual modality, as well as new first year courses in Community Engaged Scholarship and Learning. Through measures of academic, behavioral, and perceptual gains (e.g., pre/post assessments; measures of science motivation), the project will determine the impact of these courses on students' sense of belonging, pride, and cultural wealth, with the goal of defining how these characteristics intersect with student performance and retention. Using surveys, open ended questions, and focus group interviews, this project also aims to measure the impact of the professional development activities and new courses on faculty awareness of community engagement and on the faculty's use of culturally-relevant pedagogies.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Alexis Racelis
TXHouston1832534University of HoustonLinkBuilding Capacity: Integrated Interventions to Improve Undergraduate Student Success in STEM The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program) aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge about how to achieve these aims. This project at the University of Houston will advance the aims of the HSI Program by improving retention of students from first-year courses to higher level courses, and through completion of the bachelor's degree. The project will analyze student motivation and desire for obtaining a STEM degree. It will also implement and test the effectiveness of academic interventions, such as a summer bridge program, on student success. As one of two public research institutions in the state of Texas designated as an HSI, and given the demographics of its student enrollment, the University of Houston can contribute to developing a diverse STEM workforce for the state of Texas and the Nation.

This project has two components: an intervention component and a research component. The objectives of the intervention component are to implement and test the effectiveness of interventions including: (1) a Summer Bridge Program, (2) a First Year Interest Group, and (3) the Undergraduate Research Guild Experience program. The objective of the research component is to examine the effect of these interventions on motivational and self-regulatory student characteristics and psychosocial contextual factors (e.g., sense of belonging) that are malleable to change through intervention and that are associated with college grades and persistence to graduation. The project will evaluate the implementation and effectiveness of these interventions, which have built-in academic and personal support mechanisms. By measuring the impact of these integrated interventions on student success, the project will extend knowledge about best practices for improving retention and graduation rates. The project has the potential to increase the graduation rate of STEM undergraduates who are prepared to advance into STEM careers and graduate or professional school.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Donna Stokes
TXKingsville1928611Texas A&M University-KingsvillePathways to Promote Seamless Transitions for Undergraduate Engineering Majors With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program, this Track 1 project aims to develop and assess an innovative model in engineering education that integrates mentoring, academic coaching, summer research experiences, and outside classroom opportunities to improve learning, retention, and preparation of engineering students from diverse cultural backgrounds. This project seeks to address the underrepresentation of Hispanics in the engineering workforce by developing the engineering curricula and co-curricular activities to better equip students as they proceed through critical transitions in the engineering major. The project has the potential to increase student persistence and success in the engineering major which could then lead to a more diverse engineering workforce.

The project seeks to improve critical thinking, as well as increase students' academic competencies, self-efficacy and persistence, tolerance for failure, and level of engagement. Specific aims of the project are to: a) Develop and implement interventions that will increase interest in STEM disciplines; b) Create effective bridge programs to improve students' college preparedness; c) Enhance the student learning experience in STEM gateway courses; and d) Create opportunities for experiential learning though summer research, internships, and co-curricular activities. The project will investigate the ways in which student engagement in high-impact enrichment activities and personalized support services lead to increased student recruitment, retention, and persistence. The project will also investigate how co-curricular activities help to increase students' self-efficacy and successful degree completion. The project will engage students to synergistically weave research and education together while providing several enrichment opportunities that are ideal for students with diverse backgrounds. Students who have experienced these proactive personalized support services and enrichment activities are expected to be better prepared to make successful transitions into the STEM workforce. The project will actively disseminate and share project findings with stakeholders through a project website, presentations at conferences, journal articles, and social media. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Mohammad Alam
TXHouston1928622University of Houston - Clear LakeBuilding Capacity: Improving STEM Graduation Rates through Engaged Learning With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 project aims to increase the number of underrepresented minority and low-income students who earn STEM bachelor's degrees from the University of Houston-Clear Lake (UHCL), an HSI designated institution. In metropolitan Houston, with its high concentration of aerospace, petroleum, and biomedical employers, approximately one-third of jobs are in STEM fields. Houston ranks among the nation's top cities for job growth and for STEM workers. Over the past decade, Houston employers in growing STEM fields relied heavily on recruiting workers from other states and countries, citing a lack of qualified local residents. Despite the abundance of career opportunities in STEM fields, underrepresented minority and low-income students are not obtaining STEM degrees at a rate that keeps pace with the demand for qualified employees. This project will develop new student support infrastructures and create new opportunities for engagement in STEM research and professional activities. Expected outcomes include more students who successfully complete STEM gateway courses on their first attempt, increased retention in STEM majors, and improved STEM graduation rates.

UHCL proposes an ambitious five-year project to address two Track 1 priorities. Evidence-based activities will address "Critical Transitions" by developing new support infrastructures for transfer students from two-year institutions and students enrolled in gateway courses. The project will address "Innovative Cross-Sector Partnerships" by collaborating with the UHCL Office of Strategic Partnerships to develop student research opportunities, internships, and career mentoring with leading regional companies in the aerospace, biomedical, petrochemical, and technology sectors. The project has three goals: (1) Use targeted outreach efforts, pre-college programming, and scholarships to attract new students to STEM majors; (2) Use social and academic support services to increase the retention of students enrolled in STEM majors; and (3) Use academic support services and data to increase the number of graduates in STEM majors. Proposed interventions include collaborative learning centers, mentoring, student organizations, student-led research, and financial support. This project examines the impact of these interventions on producing a qualified, diverse STEM workforce with the research skills, the communication skills, and the networking skills necessary to be successful in STEM careers. Data collected from each of the activities will be used to answer four research questions: (1) What is the impact of proactive interventions on retention and graduation for transfer students in STEM fields; (2) What is the impact of proactive interventions on retention and graduation for college students in STEM fields; (3) What forms of ongoing academic and social support yield higher retention and graduation rates for students in STEM fields; (4) What forms of career preparation produce higher placement rates in the STEM workforce. Project activities will be extensively evaluated with quantitative and qualitative data collected throughout the program's implementation. Project results and best practices will be disseminated via conference presentations, peer-reviewed journal publications, and formal and informal events each year so that elements can be replicated at other institutions.

The National Science Foundation HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these goals.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Said Bettayeb
TXSan Marcos1928696Texas State University - San MarcosCreating Faculty-Student Communities for Culturally Relevant Institutional Change With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program, this Track 1 project aims to advance STEM education research. Specifically, it will analyze the efforts of faculty and student teams to improve introductory STEM courses at a large HSI in central Texas. By providing faculty with support from education specialists, peers, and administrators, the project will facilitate instructional innovations to enhance student learning in STEM gateway courses. The project's key goal is to improve undergraduate STEM courses in ways that that build on the students' strengths and that increase the collaboration between faculty and students in the learning process. The project emphasizes faculty-student partnerships to redesign courses, which has the potential to broaden participation of underrepresented minorities in STEM. In addition, the project's focus on sustained improvements will benefit future students in the gateway courses as well as result in improvements to STEM courses beyond those targeted by this proposal. The work will involve all seven departments in the College of Science and Engineering at Texas State University, directly impacting hundreds of faculty and thousands of STEM students. Lessons learned will inform other higher education institutions that plan to undertake similar initiatives. The project has the potential to increase the number of STEM degrees awarded to underrepresented minorities, thus supporting increased diversity of the national STEM workforce.

The project team will implement and study a comprehensive instructional improvement initiative in the College of Science and Engineering at Texas State University. The initiative consists of four programmatic components that engage faculty and students at increasingly high levels: (1) professional development workshops on evidence-based and culturally relevant instruction; (2) sustained support for faculty to conduct departmental self-assessments to understand student strengths and needs; (3) financial, pedagogical, and community support for faculty-student teams to redesign lower division STEM gateway courses; and (4) development of faculty team leaders who participate in project-level decision making and plan for next steps beyond the duration of the grant. The project will develop a learning assistant model that will engage undergraduate students as instructional partners to leverage the strengths of diverse students. Participating STEM departments will receive multifaceted intellectual, material, and logistical supports to empower faculty-student teams in developing sustainable communities of practice focused on culturally relevant instruction. The first research strand focuses on communities of practice among faculty and learning assistants, by measuring shifts in faculty knowledge, perceptions of students, and instructional practices. The second strand focuses on STEM student trajectories at Texas State, by measuring the effectiveness of course redesigns. The third strand focuses on student graduation rates and STEM workforce outcomes for Texas State and other HSIs, by measuring the impact of learning assistant programs on long-term student outcomes. This research will reveal how theories and models that operate at different levels and multiple contexts can be coordinated to produce sustained, culturally relevant instructional change and improve workforce outcomes and diversity. The knowledge generated by this proposal has the potential to improve STEM student outcomes at diverse higher education institutions across the nation. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Heather Galloway
TXDenton1953448Texas Woman's UniversityCapacity Building for Students and Faculty Through Partnerships, Research, Innovation, Mentoring, and Engagement With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1: Building Capacity project aims to improve retention and graduation rates for undergraduate STEM students at Texas Woman’s University (TWU). TWU, the largest public university primarily for women in the United States, is a Hispanic-serving Institution with an enrollment of approximately 10,300 undergraduate students, 88% of whom are female. This project intends to establish the TWU-Partnerships, Research, Innovation, Mentoring, and Engagement (TWU-PRIME) Program to improve faculty engagement and student learning and retention in STEM. This project includes three key elements: 1) redesigning introductory courses in biology, chemistry, and mathematics, 2) supporting faculty to include innovative, evidence-based, and culturally relevant approaches in their teaching, and 3) providing opportunities for students to engage in mentored research internships with local STEM industries. These elements together are intended to improve STEM teaching and learning to foster increased retention and graduation rates for STEM students at TWU.

TWU-PRIME seeks to build capacity by increasing STEM engagement, retention, and graduation through three strategies: 1) improving performance in STEM foundation courses through course redesign, 2) developing a Faculty Community of Practice, and 3) launching meaningful STEM learning experiences through mentored research and internships for students and the development of collaborations between faculty and external partners. Course redesign efforts will include personalized learning approaches, flipped or inverted classrooms, cooperative learning, and/or case study teaching. Faculty instructors in foundational courses in biology, chemistry, and mathematics will be integrated into a community of practice, which will support both course redesign efforts and integration of diversity competency development to recognize students’ social identities and lived experiences. Research internships with local community partners such as HealthTrakRx, Mentor LLC, and the Noble Research Institute will be established to provide meaningful research experiences for students and to facilitate the development of faculty relationships with industry and research partners. These external partnerships are anticipated to have long-term benefits for the workforce relying on STEM graduates and to create new and meaningful knowledge about how cross-sector partnerships contribute to STEM teaching and learning and to workforce development. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Diana Elrod
TXEl Paso1953560University of Texas at El PasoDeveloping Engineering Instructional Faculty as Leaders of Educational Change at Hispanic-Serving Institutions With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 project focuses on enabling non-tenure-eligible, instructional faculty to further foster culturally responsive, evidence-based approaches in engineering education at Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs). Non-tenure-eligible Engineering Instructional Faculty (EIF) are an under-explored and under-supported population who play a critical role in students’ educational experiences within engineering. With the historical emphasis placed on faculty development and resources for tenure-track faculty, there is an untapped opportunity to amplify the existing efforts of EIF at HSIs to support an increasingly diverse student population. This project seeks to develop EIF as leaders of educational change who embrace and promote the use of culturally responsive, evidence-based instructional practices at HSIs. Towards this end, this project will partner with EIF to design Engineering Leadership Academies (ELA) - a self-sustaining, within- and cross-institutional faculty development model that equips EIF and amplifies their leadership of educational change at HSIs. Through professional development and coaching of approximately 80 EIF, the project will enrich a growing network of educational leaders at HSIs. These EIF will design educational initiatives for their campuses that seek to improve student learning and retention, with the potential to directly impact the education of over 1,800 engineering students throughout the project. In addition, the ELAs and the culminating National ELA conference will expand the reach of the faculty development by including participants from a diverse set of HSIs, including two- and four-year institutions as well as those who receive low levels of NSF funding.

This project aims to (1) develop a rich understanding of the perspectives and experiences of EIF at HSIs, (2) define a framework for how to support educational change leadership development of EIF, and (3) identify learning experiences that support EIF leadership development, (4) design and implement ELAs to thereby (5) increase the use of innovative, culturally responsive, evidence-based teaching approaches in engineering education programs at HSIs. This multi-year project will use a variety of qualitative, quantitative, and participatory research methods embedded in a series of action research cycles. Each cycle will enable both the iterative development of the ELA and the inclusion of additional EIF from HSIs nationwide. This research will provide the engineering education and faculty development communities with a deep understanding of an under-explored and under-served population of faculty, specifically EIF at HSIs. The project findings will further expand models for developing teachers-as-leaders and engineering leadership to create a framework for sustainable engineering faculty leadership development. The design and implementation of the ELAs will make visible the features and necessary content of faculty development programs that promote educational leadership and innovation at HSIs. Broader dissemination of the findings at a National ELA Conference will enable EIF participants to share their educational innovations and associated research findings with a growing network of EIFs. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Meagan Kendall
TXSeguin1953561Texas Lutheran UniversityBuilding Capacity for Student Success in Science and Math: Culturally Responsive Teaching and Professional Engagement With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program, this Track 1 project aims to incorporate culturally relevant teaching methods into baccalaureate degree programs in Biology, Mathematics, and Physics. These disciplines have well-documented opportunities to improve recruitment and education of undergraduate STEM students from diverse populations. Texas Lutheran University, a small liberal arts HSI, aims to increase STEM students’ retention, persistence and success in these disciplines. To achieve this aim, the project will use an integrated approach that combines faculty development in culturally relevant teaching, early engagement of STEM students in faculty-mentored research, outreach experiences, and family engagement. The project will examine the hypothesis that engaging students in early research experiences will increase retention, graduation, and post-graduation career success. The project seeks to improve the academic performance and increase the number of undergraduate students who earn STEM degrees, particularly students from underrepresented groups.

The project focuses on the critical transition from high school into rigorous college or university STEM degree programs. The project plans to improve success of students through this transition by integrating STEM curricula with the tenets of culturally relevant pedagogy, including identity formation, social justice and equity, and understanding of cultural biases and barriers. The project will study the effect of this integration on STEM undergraduate student retention and success. Quantitative and qualitative data will be analyzed to understand the influence of curricular, co- curricular, and extracurricular interventions on retention and graduation. It is anticipated that these results will identify highly effective combinations of practices for improving participation, persistence, and success of students in STEM disciplines, with attention to students from underrepresented groups. Data collection methods will include surveys, focus groups, interviews, and review of institutional metrics. Comparative data from participants involved in the project’s interventions and non-participating students will be used for analysis, with the goal of identifying correlations and possible causative relationships that impact students’ epistemological and identity development, and their overall success in STEM. The project expects that its model of student supports can be used or adapted by other institutions that intend to increase STEM student success. The findings and insights from this work have the potential to generate knowledge about how to include diverse students in science careers and also about how to increase the cultural awareness of all students. This HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Toni Sauncy
TXHouston1953667Houston Baptist UniversityPreparing Underrepresented STEM Students for Success through Academic and Summer Research Opportunities With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 2 project aims to prepare diverse students for participation in a high impact summer research program. Underrepresented students are less likely to earn undergraduate STEM degrees than the general population. As a result, the STEM workforce does not reflect the diversity of the nation's population. The project seeks to identify and provide diverse students the skills necessary to complete their STEM academic curriculum and be competitive in the STEM workforce. Through a partnership between Houston Baptist University (HBU) and the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, this project aims to increase the number of diverse students participating in high impact undergraduate research experiences (UREs). The project will develop and provide activities that will prepare students to succeed in the URE as well as enter the STEM workforce.

This project seeks to identify and also provide students with the skills and experience necessary to be competitive undergraduate research programs as well as the STEM workforce. Undergraduate research experiences (UREs) have been shown to increase student engagement in their undergraduate studies, understanding of their field of study, and interest in graduate school. The goals of this project are to 1) prepare students for success in summer research by focusing on the specific skills necessary for work in STEM careers, 2) engage students in sponsored and mentored summer research and experiential professional development opportunities, and 3) retain students in the STEM academic pipeline. Ten students per year, for three years, will be trained for the URE via a preparative program. Students will also participate in novel, meaningful research that will be presented at undergraduate research symposiums. Through formative and summative measures, the project seeks to increase in the retention of students in STEM majors, submissions of applications to STEM graduate programs, or the number of students entering the STEM workforce. Additionally, the preparative program's curriculum will be publicly available through a website. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI program will also generate knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Matthew Blank
TXLaredo1953679Texas A&M International UniversityBuilding Capacity: An Undergraduate STEM-Enrichment Program in Texas With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program, this Track 1 project aims to research the educational support and instructional activities that increase the quality and number of STEM graduates from underserved groups of students such as Hispanic, female, low-income, and first generation. The project will introduce important STEM knowledge and skills plus other academic support (tutoring and mentoring), in addition to video project assignments, to improve students’ sense of belonging, confidence, and identity with STEM disciplines. Consequently, this programming will lead to enhanced minority STEM students’ academic performance and progress toward timely graduation. Through professional formation experiences, this project will prepare students to graduate and work in critical U.S. sectors such as agriculture and food, energy, health care and medicine, cyber and information technologies, and national security. The research will disseminate new knowledge to other universities and colleges to help institutions implement new instructional strategies. Overall, the project’s expected outcomes will produce novel strategies to improve and enhance undergraduate STEM education for minority students across the nation.

The specific aims of the project are to implement several enrichment strategies on selected Texas A&M International University STEM students with the aim of improving GPA and time to degree. These strategies will include a pre-college summer camp to provide participants with a head start on the STEM-introductory classes critical to progressing in their majors, a two-semester STEM research methods seminar series, and an undergraduate STEM research experience. Tutoring and supplemental instruction sessions will also be included. Half of the participants will be randomly assigned to work on STEM-related creative video assignments. The methodology embeds an experimental design, treatment, and control groups. The project will test whether the enrichment strategies lead to have higher GPAs and an improved path toward timely graduation. The project will also create professional developmental opportunities in the form of academic learning opportunities; STEM-internships and/or STEM-incubatorships; and mentorship of program participants The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Claudia San Miguel
TXSan Antonio2008428St. Philip's CollegeCIMA LSAMP Alliance The Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program assists universities and colleges in their efforts to significantly increase the number of students matriculating into and successfully completing high quality degree programs in science,technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines in order to diversify the STEM workforce. Particular emphasis is placed on transforming undergraduate STEM education through innovative, evidence-based recruitment and retention strategies, and relevant educational experiences in support of racial and ethnic groups historically underrepresented in STEM disciplines: African Americans, Hispanic Americans,American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Native Pacific Islanders. These strategies facilitate the production of well-prepared students highly-qualified and motivated to pursue graduate education or careers in STEM. For the United States (U.S.) to remain globally competitive, it is vital that it taps into the talent of all its citizens and provides exceptional educational preparedness in STEM areas that underpin the knowledge-based economy.

The CIMA Alliance - a partnership between St. Philip's, San Antonio, Northwest Vista, Palo Alto, and Northeast Lakeview Colleges - is uniquely poised to respond to the need for a more diverse and skilled technical workforce. That need still exists and is particularly acute in Bexar County(Texas) where minorities traditionally underrepresented in STEM fields comprise much of the region's population. The CIMA Alliance's goals are to: 1) Increase individual student retention and progression to baccalaureate degrees for underrepresented minorities (URMs); 2) Enable successful transfer of URMs from two-year programs into four-year programs; and 3)Increase access to high-quality undergraduate research experiences. These goals support the National Science Foundation's strategic goal to "cultivate a world-class,broadly inclusive science and engineering workforce, and expand the scientific literacy of all citizens." To retain more STEM majors to graduation or transfer, and to provide an intervention that addresses multiple factors that influence Hispanic student success in STEM, the project will encourage students to develop peer and faculty support networks and improve their sense of self-efficacy in STEM through involvement in student-led undergraduate research; peer mentorship; faculty mentorship; tutoring; supplemental instruction, especially in mathematics; and STEM student clubs. The project supports the goals of the LSAMP program by transforming undergraduate STEM education at all five CIMA Alliance Colleges via 1) relevant curricular and co-curricular educational experiences that are designed to meet the specific needs of URM STEM majors; and 2) professional development in innovative, evidence-based teaching, recruitment, and retention strategies for all STEM faculty and academic advisors. Convergent STEM education is emphasized to prepare students for 21st Century careers in science and technology.

Dissemination of the evaluation results will provide insight into activities/programs that establish seamless transfer pipelines into four-year institutions, and the extent to which these interventions increase the number of underrepresented community college STEM majors who complete a STEM bachelor's degree within six years.

Support for this project is provided by the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), that aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs and the Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation program.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Randall Dawson
TXSan Antonio2009369St Mary's University San AntonioPre-Alliance Planning: Working Together ? Adelante! The Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program assists universities and colleges in their efforts to significantly increase the numbers of students matriculating into and successfully completing high quality degree programs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines in order to diversify the STEM workforce. Particular emphasis is placed on transforming undergraduate STEM education through innovative, evidence-based recruitment and retention strategies, and relevant educational experiences in support of racial and ethnic groups historically underrepresented in STEM disciplines: African Americans, Hispanic Americans, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Native Pacific Islanders. These strategies facilitate the production of well-prepared students highly-qualified and motivated to pursue graduate education or careers in STEM. The need for cultivating STEM talent has been well established. For the United States (U.S.) to remain globally competitive, it is vital that it taps into the talent of all its citizens and provides exceptional educational preparedness in STEM areas that underpin the knowledge-based economy. American students from diverse ethnic groups are underrepresented in STEM fields,and represent an untapped resource for the STEM workforce in the U.S.

St. Mary’s University, Our Lady of the Lake University, Trinity University, and the University of the Incarnate Word, all Primarily Undergraduate Universities (PUIs) in San Antonio, aim to form a new Louis Stokes STEM Pathways Implementation-Only (SPIO) Alliance to increase the number of STEM baccalaureate and graduate degrees awarded to students that are underrepresented minority (URM) in the STEM workforce. Three institutions participating in the pre-alliance planning project are Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs).

This project will focus on identifying the causes of “leaks” in the STEM pipeline by first designing a collaborative and normalized metric to track student cohorts, identifying data gaps, and conducting a needs assessment among the Alliance students to identify barriers to URM student retention in STEM. Planning activities will include several workshops over the 18-month period.

This Pre-Alliance Planning project seeks to ultimately increase the preparedness of URM students in STEM fields and increase their retention, through the evaluation of potential interventions and identification of student perceived barriers to retention. With regards to analyzing retention data, the Alliance will develop a plan, which will be disseminated through the higher education landscape, to document student retention in STEM majors beyond the first year and to track URM STEM majors who enter graduate/professional school.

The major outcome from this project will be the development of metrics, an evaluation design, and assessment methods to aid in development of the full alliance proposal. Dissemination of project results have the potential for customization and application to other PUI and MSI institutions in the nation.

Support for this project is jointly provided by the Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation and the Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Programs in the Division of Human Resource Development (HRD) and the Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE).

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Melissa Karlin
TXEl Paso2012475University of Texas at El PasoNetwork Cluster: Patterns and controls of ecohydrology, CO2 fluxes, and nutrient availability in pedogenic carbonate-dominated dryland critical zones The Critical Zone is the layer of Earth’s surface from the top of the trees to the bottom of the groundwater. Rocks, soil, water, air, and living organisms interact in the Critical Zone to provide life-sustaining resources such as food and water. Drylands, with arid to semi-arid climates, cover 45% of the Earth and provide homes to more than 2 billion people. The drylands of the American West are facing significant challenges caused by global change, such as drought and changing plant communities. Increases in human population and food demand have also converted many natural drylands in this region to irrigated farms. These changes in land use and climate have greatly affected the movement of water, carbon, nutrients and salt through different parts of the drylands. All of these changes impact the sustainability of natural and agricultural ecosystems. This project will investigate these important Critical Zone processes and improve our ability to predict future change. Specifically, this thematic cluster will investigate how carbonate minerals in dryland soils control and impact water, nutrients, salts, and carbon moving in and out of the Critical Zone. This project will help to educate and train middle to high school students, and college undergraduate and graduate students. These students will be provided with the motivation, skills and tools to become future professionals in science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM). Our research and education efforts will also help to grow public awareness of the importance of the Critical Zone function and service in drylands.

The Critical Zone in dryland ecosystems is an understudied but crucial part of the Earth system. It contrasts with mesic areas by having sparse vegetation, limited but dynamic soil moisture, deep water table, low soil organic matter, alkaline pH, and buildup of salt precipitates, especially as pedogenic carbonates that can develop into a thick caliche layer and dominate the soil structure. However, these systems are underrepresented in Critical Zone research and current conceptual models do not fully address phenomena unique to drylands such as development of pedogenic carbonate, dust storms, episodic precipitation, and high spatiotemporal variability in hydrological and biogeochemical processes. To fill these knowledge gaps, the overarching goal of the project is to increase our capacity to quantify and predict dryland carbon budgets across land-use and climatic gradients by examining the role of water and nutrient availability in regulating the movement of organic and inorganic carbon in the dryland Critical Zone. Specifically, this project centers around the multifaceted roles of pedogenic carbonates in dictating vadose zone water dynamics, the potential recharge to deep water table, and nutrient cycling in typical dryland landscapes, piedmont, playa and irrigated agricultural fields. These in turn drive trends in evolution of Critical Zone architectures and land-atmosphere C exchange. We will tackle these problems by using a comprehensive set of tools including eddy covariance towers, deep Critical Zone drilling, hydrogeophysical surveys, soil and hydrologic sensors, isotopic analysis, synchrotron, geochemical proxies, and genetic sequencing. This project builds on the rich historical data, knowledge, and models at the Jornada LTER, the Reynolds Creek CZO, USDA-ARS Kimberly site in Idaho and irrigated agricultural sites along the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. This thematic cluster will develop an interdisciplinary framework to understand material and energy flow through dryland Critical Zones and lay the foundation for managing Critical Zone function, evolution, and services, as well as forecasting carbon budget changes with future shifts in climate and land use in drylands.

This project is jointly funded by the Critical Zone Collaborative Network and the Hydrologic Sciences programs in the Division of Earth Sciences and the Hispanic Serving Institutions program in the Education and Human Resources Directorate's Division of Human Resource Development.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Lixin Jin
TXLaredo2032954Laredo Community CollegeRAPID: Using Real Life COVID-19 data to teach quantititative reasoning skills to undergraduate Hispanic STEM students The Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program supports RAPID projects when there is a severe urgency with regard to availability of, or access to, data, facilities or specialized equipment, including quick-response research on natural or anthropogenic disasters and similar unanticipated events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The project at Laredo Community College, a two-year institution, seeks to investigate the effectiveness of using a fully-virtual undergraduate research format to enhance quantitative reasoning and literacy while promoting student persistence during a pandemic of COVID-19. Additionally, this project seeks to promote faculty development in guiding undergraduate research at a community college and in an online learning environment. This work will include collecting and monitoring data on the rate of infection of the COVID-19 in high-poverty rural communities in Laredo thus increasing the diversity of the data available to scientists. The project may shed light on inequities that have occurred as learning has transitioned to fully-virtual formats and may provide targeted strategies for engaging and encouraging groups historically underrepresented in STEM to degree completion. Students and faculty comprise a two-tier model where the former conduct research on COVID-19 in their communities and the latter examine how these students learn in this setting; this structure may serve as a model for other rural community colleges.

By gathering data from the COVID-19 spread in Laredo, this project can be an opportunity to use data to study, to learn, and to prepare for the future, an important component of resiliency. The unique data elements will only exist at this time. An undergraduate research experience will be designed and implemented around data analysis utilizing existing COVID-19 data resources. Students will increase their quantitative reasoning knowledge base, skills set, and confidence level by gathering, interpreting, analyzing data, and drawing conclusions based on numerical evidence, and communicating this information to others. Faculty involved in the project will also gain a quantitative reasoning-focused professional development opportunity. The impact on faculty development for delivering research content material and guiding research virtually as well as students’ transitions into four-year institutions and quantitative reasoning ability will be evaluated. The proposal also includes plans for communicating results virtually throughout the college, city, and state, as well as to other HSIs through conferences and professional society meetings.

This RAPID award is made by the Hispanic-serving Institutions Program in the Division of Human Resource Development, Directorate of Education and Human Resources. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Nora Garza
TXEl Paso2034030University of Texas at El PasoRAPID: Building Research Capabilities of Academically Talented Undergraduate Students from Hispanic-Serving Institutions through Virtual Research Experiences The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program) supports RAPID projects when there is severe urgency with regard to availability of, or access to, data, facilities or specialized equipment, including quick-response research on natural or anthropogenic disasters and similar unanticipated events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. This project aims to develop effective virtual internships and undergraduate research experiences to expand learning and professional development opportunities in computer sciences to minoritized undergraduate students. The COVID-19 pandemic caused a disruption in society across all sectors with widespread loss of internships, jobs, and undergraduate research experiences that negatively impact the talent pipeline in computing fields and the future of U.S. innovation. Such disruptions are likely to occur in the near future, and the U.S. must be well-prepared in offering effective virtual development opportunities and experiences for students. This project will address this exigency by refining a proven model for developing professional, research, team, and communication skills so that it will be effective in a virtual environment.

The project will engage students from diverse backgrounds and with diverse experiences in impactful research projects while proving students funding that will, in part, support continuation of their education. Broadening participation of minoritized students in research can increase retention and graduation rates in computing fields. The proposed project will provide faculty professional development in the Affinity Research Group (ARG) model, a Computing Alliance of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (CAHSI) signature and proven practice for immersing students in research. Faculty will also learn how to incorporate ARG elements into classroom pedagogical practice to improve teaching and learning. The effort will lead to a national community of faculty who are skilled at undergraduate research mentoring informed by the ARG model and who grow through their involvement with a cohort of researchers and participation in ARG interactive webinars. The evaluation will identify the practices that work best for the virtual Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REUs). It will also examine whether student perceptions of computer science and their career goals change after participation in a virtual REU. In addition, the evaluation will investigate the benefit to faculty of joining a cohort community in support of research with undergraduate. The development of a model for effective virtual undergraduate research experiences can benefit many students, especially students who do not have the ability to travel to remote REUs because of family obligations.

This RAPID award is made by the Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program in the Division of Human Resource Development, Directorate of Education and Human Resources. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Ann Gates
TXSan Antonio2040836Hispanic Association of Colleges and UniversitiesNSF INCLUDES Planning Grant: A Collaboration of Hispanic Serving Institutions and Organizations to Strengthen Pathways to STEM Graduate Education for Latinx Students The growth of the United States STEM workforce is important to economic and global competitiveness. Developing STEM talent among all sectors of society is needed in order to grow the workforce. This planning grant project includes a leadership team of experts from the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) and two Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs): The University of California, Santa Barbara and the University of Arizona. The project leaders will engage dozens of HSIs and organization to build a collaborative infrastructure. Together, the partners will pursue a consensus vision to address the broadening participation challenge of strengthening pathways to increase master’s and doctoral degree attainment in STEM fields for Latinx students attending HSIs. The outcomes of this planning grant are expected to lay the foundation for a future alliance, center or network to address the identified broadening participation challenge in STEM at a national scale.

The planning grant leadership team will engage dozens of HSI stakeholders, including administrative leaders, practitioners and faculty, and representatives from national organizations. The project leaders will convene three regional meetings, one involving participants from the US South West, one engaging individuals on the US West Coast and another including representatives on the US East Coast. The regional convenings will provide a forum for partnering organizations to build a robust collaborative infrastructure: To develop a shared vision; to expand the partnerships to include a broad community of organizations and institutions; to establish shared goals and metrics; to solidify the leadership structure; to establish and improve communication across the partners; and to scale or expand the work.

This NSF INCLUDES planning grant is funded by the NSF’s Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science program (NSF INCLUDES), a comprehensive national initiative to enhance U.S. leadership in discoveries and innovations by focusing on diversity, inclusion and broadening participation in STEM at scale. The planning grant is also funded by the NSF’s Hispanic Serving Institutions program (HSI); and the HSI program provides support to enhance the quality of undergraduate STEM education and to increase the recruitment, retention, and graduation rates of students pursuing associates or baccalaureate degrees in STEM.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
John Moder 
TXHouston2045802University of HoustonCAREER: Broadening Participation in STEM: A Qualitative Analysis of Resilience Experiences and Strategies of Latina STEM Majors in Hispanic Serving Institutions The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) program is a National Science Foundation-wide activity that offers awards in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education, and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations. This project awarded to a CAREER scholar has the goal to identify and understand key factors that promote and hinder the success of Latina STEM majors in higher education in Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) in Texas. The research findings will help to support mentoring interventions to promote diversity in STEM across the country. The project will involve undergraduate STEM students as mentors and as researchers. This award is supported by the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program) program.

The study will employ qualitative methods, through a multicase study approach, including interviews and focus groups, in examining the experiences of Latinas STEM majors in HSIs. Student participants will be recruited from three institutions of higher education in central Texas that are designated as HSIs or Emergent HSIs. The influence of family history, socio-economic background, family college experience, cultural and racial identity, and community influence will be examined as part of a resilience experience. The study will investigate mentoring strategies to improve students' perception of the social climate and supportive experiences at their universities. The study of successful experiences and barriers will guide the development of evidence-based mentoring strategies and interventions that support resilience, persistence, and graduation of Latina STEM majors.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Catherine Horn
TXSan Marcos2046079Texas State University - San MarcosCAREER: Effects of Community Cultural Wealth on Persistence of Black and Hispanic Women in the P-20 Computing Workforce Pipeline in Texas The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) program is a National Science Foundation-wide activity that offers awards in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education, to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization, and to build a foundation for a lifetime of leadership in integrating education and research. This project will examine the effects of community cultural wealth on the persistence of Black and Hispanic women in computing education and the workforce. Participants in the study include a national cohort of students enrolled in computer science coursework and degree programs from eighth grade through undergraduate study. A post-graduate component includes continued study of persistence into graduate study or the workforce. Project goals include contributions to the knowledge base on the influence of community cultural wealth on persistence in computing education and the workforce in the United States and a robust compilation of quantitative and qualitative data that can be used to study educational and career trajectories for women in computing.

The integrated research and education plan applies methods from cultural anthropology to investigate the lived experiences of women of color in computing and combines longitudinal, mixed-methods approaches with the ACCEYSS (Association of Collaborative Communities Equipping Youth for STEM Success) integrative conceptual framework, developed by the principal investigator in previous work. Few studies have considered the role of community cultural wealth on the persistence of Black and Hispanic women and girls in computing. Not only will findings from this study contribute to fundamental research in STEM education, but products, professional development workshops, and an annual conference will build capacity for K-16 educators, researchers, policymakers, and industry leaders in formal and informal settings to positively impact the persistence of Black and Hispanic youth in STEM and computing. This award is supported by the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) and EHR Core Research (ECR) Programs. The HSI program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. ECR emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Shetay Ashford-Hanserd
TXLubbock2110048Texas Tech UniversityLouis Stokes New STEM Pathways Implementation-Only Alliance: The Bridges Across Texas Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation The Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program assists universities and colleges in diversifying the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce through their efforts at significantly increasing the numbers of students from historically underrepresented minority (URM) populations to successfully complete high-quality degree programs in STEM. The Bridges Across Texas LSAMP (BAT-LSAMP) is a collaboration with five Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) of higher education- Texas Tech University (TTU), the University of North Texas at Dallas (UNTD), Dallas College El Centro Campus (DCECC), South Plains College (SPC), and Texas Southmost College (TSC). This collaboration represents a demographically diverse and geographically large region that lacked LSAMP support in a state with a growing number of STEM-based career needs and a rapidly changing demographic. BAT-LSAMP is a five-year cross-institutional project that includes innovative and evidence-based strategies to overcome the identified barriers inhibiting the persistence and success of students from underrepresented ethnic groups in STEM.

The project objectives are to (1) double the URM baccalaureate degree graduates in STEM disciplines, and (2) increase the number of URM transfers in STEM disciplines. These objectives will be achieved by establishing an interactive, virtually linked network of STEM Centers at each partner institution and implementing high-impact practices, guided by the Sense of Belonging framework, to increase STEM URMs’ access to and participation in advising, mentoring, STEM-focused resources, and developmental resources for social and peer support. By the end of the project period, BAT-LSAMP will have made a transformational impact on a large number of students across the state, and cross-institutional knowledge will be gained about effective and sustainable strategies to facilitate seamless transitions that will strengthen URM persistence and success in STEM, thereby increasing retention and graduation. Dissemination of results and lessons learned will take a multi-prong approach including traditional avenues of information dissemination, i.e., publications, conference presentations and social media and via STEMinars which will be recorded and posted on the BAT-LSAMP website.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Lawrence Schovanec
TXEdinburg2111417The University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyCollaborative Research: Building Educational Theory Through Enacting Reforms in STEM This project aims to serve the national interest by building educational theory to support broadening participation in the context of improving undergraduate STEM education. This collaborative project across three institutions seeks to embed inclusive research-based instructional strategies (RBIS) within STEM undergraduate courses and departments and investigate effective strategies to support their use. Project activities and findings will significantly impact how STEM departments at two- and four-year institutions nationwide support faculty members’ use of inclusive RBIS in their undergraduate STEM courses. The primary goals are to: 1) apply an established theory of change to institutionalize the effective use of inclusive RBIS in STEM courses, 2) generate new knowledge about how specific change strategies enable STEM departments to institutionalize the effective use of inclusive RBIS in courses, and 3) generate new knowledge about benefits of and barriers to effective use of inclusive RBIS in undergraduate STEM courses.

The major project activities are to implement and study a coordinated set of change strategies targeting key barriers and drivers for undergraduate STEM reform at a community college (Whatcom Community College), a regional comprehensive university (Western Washington University), and a large Hispanic-serving institution (University of Texas- Rio Grande Valley). The absence of a shared framework to define, measure, and reward effective teaching can be a barrier to broad implementation of inclusive RBIS. Through this project's coordinated set of change strategies, STEM faculty will: 1) Develop a shared framework for effective instruction that operationalizes RBIS and includes equity and inclusion as key components, 2) Develop faculty and chairs’ knowledge and skills around the framework, 3) Engage instructional change teams of 2-4 faculty in peer observations followed by learning-focused conversations for feedback to improve enactment of RBIS, 4) Prepare faculty to lead departmental change through a leadership development program, and 5) Co-facilitate departmental conversations to revise policies and procedures to reward faculty’s use of inclusive, equitable RBIS. An existing four-category model of change strategies will provide a framework for design-based research to deepen understanding about how these strategies can be implemented and sustained. The involvement of three distinct institutions will increase the applicability and transferability of research findings about the faculty, departmental, and institutional factors that support or inhibit effective implementation of the proposed change strategies. This project is supported by the NSF HSI Program and the NSF IUSE: EHR Program. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Institutional and Community Transformation track, the program supports efforts to transform and improve STEM education across institutions of higher education and disciplinary communities.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Saraswathy Nair
TXSan Antonio2116187University of Texas at San AntonioSupporting College Instructors in Improving College Algebra Teaching and Student Outcomes This project at the University of Texas San Antonio (UTSA) aims to improve teaching and learning in college algebra through the development of a collaborative faculty development program. For many STEM major pathways, college algebra courses remain a major obstacle for timely degree completion and success. Three objectives will guide the project team. First is to allow instructors to collaborate and observe each other’s teaching. Second is to provide resources (including time) to help instructors learn about evidence-based, student-centered instructional practices. Third is to support long-term transformation implementing a research-supported model for course improvement. Through their experiences, faculty will gain facility with student-centered mathematics teaching practices that will result in improved student success outcomes. The project will impact about 1600 potential STEM students at UTSA per year, better preparing them for subsequent mathematics courses required by STEM degree programs and will build a community of instructors dedicated to the continued improvement of the college. Project research and evaluation will facilitate a deeper understanding of how instructors’ mindset and teaching practices are impacted by the faculty development efforts, while also examining impacts on student outcomes.

Instructional transformation at the post-secondary level is difficult to catalyze. Much is known about the effectiveness of student-centered learning in college mathematics, but not much is understood about how instructors at the college level incorporate these ideas and strategies into their classrooms. This project proposes to implement Continuous Improvement (CI), a proven instructional improvement framework, to encourage instructors to include more student-centered learning in their classrooms. The CI framework has previously been studied with elementary mathematics content courses for prospective teachers; this project proposes to implement it in college algebra, which is a new context for this model. The investigators will observe and document how instructors’ thinking about instruction and classroom practices change throughout the grant cycle. Major data sources include observations of instructors’ classrooms, interviews and instructional team meetings, which will help build understanding of the potential opportunities and barriers that college instructors face when incorporating student-centered teaching strategies. The project will then connect instructor change to student learning outcomes, including: 1) growth in conceptual algebra knowledge; 2) pass/fail rates in college algebra; and 3) outcomes of college algebra students in subsequent mathematics courses. The results have the potential to strengthen the field’s understanding of how shifting to student-centered instruction can result in improved student learning and success outcomes in STEM. The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program) aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Priya Prasad
TXLevelland2116810South Plains CollegeHSI Planning Project: Overcoming Barriers in the South Plains: Improving Retention for HSI Community College Students With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1: PPP aims to improve retention for HSI community college students. South Plains College (SPC) has identified a lack of preparation and knowledge among high school students when it comes to STEM careers and educational pathways. Despite 81% of SPC students indicating a desire to transfer, the number that transfer to a 4-year institution (29.5%) remains low. Our goal is for more underrepresented minority (URM) students to be better prepared for STEM majors and to achieve greater retention, transfer, and completion of STEM-centered bachelor’s degrees. The project will use faculty professional development to improve STEM advising and help students successfully navigate and academically progress at the community college. There will be two summer experiences planned to help improve academic readiness and interest in STEM fields. These will include a STEM summer experience to help rural students increase interest and understanding of STEM fields, and an Academic Success Academy to allow first-time college students onto campus 5-weeks early. The goal is to increase retention in STEM by preemptively overcoming the barriers many students face.

The main objectives of this proposal which address retention and graduation rates of URM STEM students are to (1) improve STEM transfer rate by enhancing STEM advising and availability of resources for students to help break down barriers for URM students; (2) improve academic readiness and recruitment of K-12 students by planning an Academic success experience for high school dual credit students and first-year generation students to help improve college readiness; (3) survey students via success workshops to identify apparent and conceived barriers for URM students. Many URM students face more challenges and barriers upon enrolling and attending college than their majority counterparts. Improving advising will be accomplished by professional development for faculty advisors to increase knowledge and preparedness. In order to further the advancement of SPC’s URM students, this project will implement summer academies with tailored activities for these students. Through the summer academic experience, and improved required advisement (achieved through the professional development of advisors) plus study skills/student success workshops available to all students, the sense of belonging will be accelerated for STEM majors. The needs of students will be periodically accessed to tailor future plans during STEM-focused workshops. This project will help increase retention by increasing academic readiness before the students begin their college careers. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Laci Alexander
TXCollege Station2119549Texas A&M UniversityUsing Augmented Reality and Artificial Intelligence to Improve Teaching and Learning Spatial Transformations in STEM Disciplines The mathematics that are used to describe spatial transformations can be very difficult for undergraduate students. While moving something in the physical world may be easy to understand, describing the same operation with math in the digital world can be daunting. This project will develop new technology using Augmented Reality (AR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve the teaching and learning of these difficult concepts in STEM disciplines as well as creative endeavors. The project will test the use of new AR/AI technology to enhance students’ learning of the mathematics behind spatial transformations. This will improve the use of AR/AI-powered precise motion tracking of objects that can collect high resolution in-situ motion and scene data to enhance learning analytics. The project will identify the AR capabilities that can help students conceive, connect, and compare mathematical representations of motion to overcome the well-documented difficulties students face when learning spatial transformations. Strengthening this skill will support their continued development across many STEM disciplines.

An AR/AI-powered innovative learning environment will be developed and evaluated for its effects on teaching and learning major rotation and orientation representations in the Euclidean space. Different levels of abstraction, including Axis-Angle, Euler Angles, Matrices, and Quaternions will be tested. In workshops participants will play with and transform 3D-printed geometry models to evaluate the effectiveness of the AR/AI technology. The project will assess student learning outcomes by comparing math skills in pre- and post-workshop tests compared to students working through the same tasks without the use of the AR/AI technology. The project will contribute to advancing knowledge across disciplines of spatial and mathematical pedagogies, by exploring: a) the role of novel AR interaction that allows the interplay between physical and virtual manipulatives to engage students in embodied learning; b) the capabilities of AR to make difficult invisible concepts visible for supporting an intuitive and formal understanding of spatial reasoning and mathematical formulation; c) the features of AR that help students see relationships between spatial manipulations and mathematical operations; and d) the potential impact of individual differences in spatial transformations when using AR-assisted mathematical learning.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Wei Yan
TXHouston2120417University of HoustonRCN-UBE: Bringing CRISPR-Cas9 technologies to the undergraduate classroom: an undergraduate instructors' network The CRISPR in the Classroom Network seeks to expand current undergraduate laboratory curriculum to include CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology. In the last decade, CRISPR-Cas9 has become a mainstream technique in molecular biology, and a basic understanding of the methodology is essential for our undergraduates to enter research careers workforce-ready. However, as is the case with any new technology, course instructors need access to training, professional development opportunities, and support to bring CRISPR-Cas9 into their curricula, which is not always readily available. This CRISPR in the Classroom network will provide flexible, easily adapted curriculum and mentoring to instructors and start-up kits to overcome the hurdles associated with learning and testing new curriculum in class.

The objectives of the program include the development of a national network of biology educators at both two- and four-year institutions dedicated to the development and implementation of laboratory activities centered on experiential-based work with CRISPR-Cas9 and the creation of an online repository of CRISPR-Cas9 based modules across multiple model systems through the NSF-Supported Quantitative Undergraduate Biology Education and Synthesis (QUBES) Hub. A series of workshops will be offered to instructors, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students to provide the necessary training and mentoring needed to be comfortable implementing CRISPR-Cas9 into the curriculum. As instructors modify the curriculum to fit their institutions and resources, the QUBES site will provide a central, searchable location to share their work where other laboratory instructors can find modules and a community of support as they work to ensure their undergraduate curriculum is on the cutting-edge of science.

This project is being jointly funded by the Directorate for Biological Sciences, Division of Biological Infrastructure, and the Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR), Division of Undergraduate Education as part of their efforts to address the challenges posed in Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action (http://visionandchange/finalreport/). This project is also supported by the NSF HSI and and IUSE:EHR programs.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Donna Pattison
TXSan Antonio2120567Texas A&M University-San AntonioRCN-UBE Incubator: Building an interdisciplinary regional network to expose under-represented students to biological research in its community context Research has shown that under-served students typically have few opportunities to engage in high-impact research activities and that first-generation college students want their learning to be connected to their home communities. When educators attempt to improve upon undergraduate research opportunities they frequently focus on placing only select students in one-on-one faculty mentored research and fail to link the research to the students’ daily lives. All students should have an opportunity to participate in research in ways that make explicit connections between the content, process, and application of research, or they risk not being able to see the relevance of biological science to their own lives. This RNC-UBE incubator network will remove these barriers by developing course-based opportunities for students to engage with real-life data sets provided by regional organizations whose work is informed by biological research. Therefore, all students taking introductory biology courses will build research skills within a socially meaningful and applied community context. Furthermore, by participating in the course-based research modules developed by this regional network, students will gain a greater understanding of job market diversity as it pertains to skills gained during biological research.

This network brings together educators from different universities, community colleges, as well as research scientists from an urban health department, a nationally recognized primate research center, and a major regional river authority tasked with ecological stewardship. The network members will participate in workshops designed to develop course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) which will be implemented as pilot modules in introductory biology courses. Workshops will also identify alignment of modules with core curriculum learning objectives, community partner needs, and potential barriers to implementation. During the pilot CURE modules students will collect and analyze data sets on the prevalence and disparities of heritable genetic disorders, diabetes, cancer or environmental threats to the community, many of which disproportionately burden the network’s predominately Hispanic population. This RCN-UBE Incubator will increase collaborative research among students, academia, industry, and community civic services and thus enhance the diversity of the future STEM workforce. Students participating in the modules will develop skills in science communication by sharing their results with public groups, family members and network representatives. The impact of the network will extend beyond students and faculty to include members of the community who might otherwise have limited exposure to scientific research, thereby nurturing positive attitudes towards biological research and increased engagement and support of family members with their children’s STEM education.
This project is being jointly funded by the Directorate for Biological Sciences, Division of Biological Infrastructure, and the Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR), Division of Undergraduate Education as part of their efforts to address the challenges posed in Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action (http://visionandchange/finalreport/). This project is also supported by the NSF HSI and IUSE:EHR programs.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Megan Wise de Valdez
TXPasadena2122214San Jacinto College DistrictHSI Implementation and Evaluation Project: Incorporating Research-Related Activities in Developmental Math to Increase A.S. STEM Graduates With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 2: IEP aims to increase the number of Associate of Science degree STEM graduates. This will be achieved through revising a developmental math course onto a problem-based learning theory, which is supported by research to increase course success and student retention. The project is led by San Jacinto College (SJC), a Hispanic Serving Institution two-year community college located in the Houston metropolitan area where academic attainment is low. STEM education is a priority and students of Hispanic or Latino origin comprise 59% of all STEM majors. Houston’s energy, medical, and aerospace industries rely on STEM graduates, and need a more qualified and diverse STEM workforce. This project will pilot redesigned curriculum for a development math course which has an in-class transition from a non-credit bearing developmental introductory algebra course to a credit bearing college algebra course. The intent is to retain STEM majors and influence their progression in STEM pathways. Expected outcomes include improving pilot course completion success rates for minority students; increase graduation rates of STEM majors; increase percentage of students enrolling in a STEM pipeline science course after pilot course completion; engaging more students in STEM research; increase project impact through the Rice University Summer Institute in Math that provides math faculty professional development in problem based learning techniques and hosting a public website of project results.

This project hypothesizes that community colleges that adopt curriculum built on the problem-based learning theory co-designed by a four-year research university will improve student engagement, retention, and academic success for underrepresented minority STEM students. The project has three goals: (1) provide science-based learning strategies in developmental math to improve student engagement and retention, (2) improve faculty awareness of teaching and learning strategies in a unique co-teaching model, and (3) increase student success rates to positively impact the students’ decision to persist into science courses for STEM majors. Two core components are the (1) creation of a Summer Institute in Mathematics (SIM) for SJC faculty, facilitated by Rice University’s Tapia Center for Excellence and Equity and (2) implementing a new SJC math curriculum, where student participants’ classroom involvement grows and an increased focus on key math content needed for subsequent science coursework is employed. SIM will focus on evidence-based theories via intensive pedagogy sessions for SJC math faculty, provide dedicated time for curriculum development, and offer research lab tours at Rice to observe math principles in current research advancements, with the intent to implement innovative curriculum early in the STEM pathway. A mixed-methods evaluation will be facilitated to gauge the effectiveness of the intervention to assist program administrators to identify the most advantageous aspects of this intervention for SJC faculty and students. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Rachel Garcia
TXEl Paso2122607University of Texas at El PasoA Knowledge-Based Framework for Creating and Sustaining Transformational Change for Latinx Student Success in STEM This project aims to use a diversity, equity, and inclusion lens to create systemic, transformational change at the University of Texas at El Paso to increase the number of Latinx students, in particular Latina students, who are competitive in STEM careers. To achieve the aim of increased participation in STEM fields at the national level, a cross-cutting and replicable institutional approach that considers learning outcomes, students’ experiences, internal organizational structures, and external influences will be implemented. With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program), the project team will intentionally embed concern for diversity, equity, and inclusion in teaching and learning, professional development, and policies and procedures, seeking to shift culture across the institution. A key aspect of the project to support long term impact is capacity building for research on the interplay between STEM education and "servingness," a conceptual way to understand what it means to move from simply enrolling Latinx students to actually serving them.

The project seeks to institutionalize the systematic use of data and the authentic engagement of key stakeholders to build sustained change through continuous improvement and to maintain, sustain, and build upon inclusive infrastructure and resources. Project personnel will identify, stratify, organize, present, and distribute data to be used for decision-making. A transformation team coordinated by the Provost’s Office will use those data to recommend, plan, and evaluate action on relevant issues. The institution plans to transform STEM undergraduate education through changes in core curricula that provide equitable opportunities to students. In a revitalization of the curriculum, working groups of faculty will develop modular materials for inclusion in the University core to increase inclusive instruction, STEM competencies, and engagement. The Center for Faculty Leadership and Development will implement a professional development series on inclusive and asset-based pedagogy. The administration will work to select, compensate, develop, and mentor future faculty leaders invested in diversity, equity, and inclusion. The Provost’s Office will work with administration and the Faculty Senate to codify policies and procedures that recognize faculty and staff efforts in inclusive teaching and learning. The project will increase publications on metrics-based planning; promote regular use of metrics and research by deans, chairs, and program directors in planning and improving interventions; enhance the ability of stakeholders to understand multiple perspectives on data through visualization; and expand shared understanding of effective practices. Changes will be institutionalized and sustained through policies and procedures that recognize and reward faculty and staff who focus on student success and servingness. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
John Wiebe
TXSan Antonio2122655Texas A&M University-San AntonioHSI Pilot Project: Broadening Research Experiences for HSI STEM Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (BREDEI) With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-­Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 project aims to improve the quality, availability, and diversity of the STEM educational pipeline. By building a sustainable undergraduate field research program at Texas A&M University-­San Antonio, the project will develop a strong scientific and professional identity critical to the persistence in STEM majors and the motivation to pursue a science-­related career. We will develop role models, facilitate student participation in federally-­supported research projects, and provide field training programs to heighten the scientific literacy and identity among the participating students. As the project team validates the impact of these practices and develops them into a curricular program, the project will have a long-­term impact of cultivating reliable domestic talent from underrepresented populations by improving the disproportionately low representation of Hispanic students in south Texas in the aquatic ecology profession.

Aquatic sciences are highly interdisciplinary and require a considerable amount of field experience that has not always been accessible to under-­represented student groups. We hypothesize that improving the availability of field research opportunities and role models are key to the success of minority STEM majors. Thus, the specific aims of the project are to (1) improve scientific literacy among minority communities, (2) broaden undergraduate research experiences focusing on assessing the health of stream ecosystems, (3) improve recruitment, retention, and graduation of minority students by offering field research and mentoring programs, and (4) establish a sustainable model for a field-­heavy curriculum via a collaborative model between HSIs, schools, public and private sector entities. These objectives will be achieved by implementing field-­training activities supported by the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON), the National Hispanic Environmental Council (NHEC), and the Texas Aquatic Science project. The outcome of the project will enable the development of a university faculty-reviewed field-­study curriculum for A&M-­SA that will benefit students from multiple natural resource majors. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Walter Den
TXSan Antonio2122658St Mary's University San AntonioHSI Implementation and Evaluation Project: FUERTE: Fostering Undergraduate Education, Retention and Transfer Environments With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 2: Implementation and Evaluation Project will increase the number of Latinx students who obtain baccalaureate degrees in STEM fields, including both those who enter St. Mary’s University as first-time freshmen and those who transfer from their partner, Northwest Vista College. Research indicates that Latinx students are underrepresented in the STEM workforce. A major reason for this discrepancy is that too few are earning four-year degrees in STEM majors. Not only does this restrict the range of occupational opportunities available to them, but it also attenuates their social mobility. Rectifying this problem requires understanding the root causes of differential outcomes of schooling. At the system level, Latinx students confront barriers associated with the transfer process, misaligned curricula, pedagogies unsuitable for Latinx students’ needs and experiences, and advising processes that are difficult to negotiate. At the individual level, many have internalized stereotypes that deflate their self-confidence and undermine their image of themselves as future scientists. Effective responses, therefore, must start with acknowledging that any efforts to scaffold student development must be supplemented by institutional adaptation. This project fully embraces this reality, and the activities proposed reflect research advancements that call for culturally responsive pedagogy, streamlining of the transfer process, developmentally appropriate advising, student-faculty research, and peer mentoring. Through these efforts, the aim is to produce educational outcomes that are more equitable and just while also facilitating the upward social mobility of their Latinx students.

The specific aims of the project are 1) to support the transfer of students from a two-year to a four-year institution by creating a seamless transfer pathway, 2) to create culturally responsive classroom environments and a system of student support services, 3) to facilitate student progression through STEM majors, and 4) to build competency in STEM. Social cognitive theory is applied toward adapting institutional processes to foster improved attributional tendencies, a heightened sense of competence in science, and stronger feelings of self-efficacy, which will lead Latinx students to persist to the point of earning a STEM degree. Because of their research design, straightforward connections can be made between changes in student-level characteristics, such as self-efficacy, and the probability of desirable academic outcomes. The findings from this project will make a significant contribution to the literature by extending what is known about social cognitive theory to a distinctly Latinx campus. Ultimately, the HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Supported by the HSI Program, we will draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Juan Ocampo
TXGalveston2122825Galveston CollegeHSI Institutional Transformation Project: Unified Community of Support - Building Capacity for STEM Transfer Students’ Success (UCS-STSS) With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program, this Track 3 ITP project aims to (1) build intra-institutional capacity through a Unified Community of Support; (2) create systemic and sustained institutional change that supports STEM Mentors in implementing evidence-based practices that enhance equitable student outcomes in STEM; (3) build inter-institutional capacity across a Regional Transfer Alliance to enhance STEM student transfer rates and transfer success; and (4) implement a theory-guided iterative research design focused on improving the understanding of how actors and institutions in higher education work within a systemic context to build capacity and on how to increase equitable participation and success in STEM using an intersectionality framework. This work will advance new knowledge of systems of domination and resistance in higher education within the context of HSIs. It will explore how to disrupt social reproduction of educational inequity. Broader impacts of the project will include improving the participation and success of underrepresented minorities in STEM, increasing authentic collaboration and partnerships among academia, and enhancing the infrastructure and capacity for STEM education research and its application to STEM education policy in higher education.

Specific aims of the project are to address institution and system-wide structural change to enhance undergraduate STEM education and improve STEM transfer success through theory-guided research. This will be accomplished through an iterative research design that is grounded in Lewin’s Theory of Change, an intersectionality framework (Núňez 2014), a model of Unified Community of Support (Kezar & Holcombe 2017), and Shlossberg’s Transition Theory. Expected results will be improved STEM advising, improved STEM teaching and mentoring, enhanced opportunity for co-curricular activities, more equitable participation and outcomes, improved student success, and long-term sustainable intra- and inter-institutional structural change. Findings resulting from this project will be disseminated in a variety of ways. The research findings will be shared through conferences and submitted for publication to peer reviewed journals. Findings from the action research, conducted by the STEM faculty, will be shared locally through a public-invited poster session held annually and these faculty members will be encouraged to submit their findings to a peer reviewed journal. Project resources will be shared on the project website, including transfer plans and policy documents such as the Honors Program structure. These resources will be freely available to the public. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Ana Sanchez
TXSan Angelo2122828Angelo State UniversityHSI Planning Project: Integrative Undergraduate STEM Education at Angelo State University (I-USE ASU) With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1: Planning Project: Integrative Undergraduate STEM Education at Angelo State University aims to identify the motivations and challenges that promising Latinx students face in their academic preparation and the impressions of their families, secondary school teachers and administrators towards STEM education and careers. The findings from this project will begin the process of guiding the development of new critical pathways in STEM that will embrace the motivations and address challenges to increase Latinx enrollment and completion of STEM degrees. Reducing the barriers and focusing on motivational approaches will help address the growing demand disparity that exists in the STEM workforce and will create an environment conducive for Latinx to thrive in their STEM education. Aligning with the numerous reports that have called for the reform of undergraduate education to improve student learning outcomes, persistence, and graduation rates for STEM students and leaders, this project recognizes that improvements other than coursework and teaching are needed to create student success, especially for minoritized students. These areas address the critical social and emotional components and the impact of barriers, implicit bias, and microaggression, which significantly influence student interest in pursuing STEM majors and careers, especially in Latinx, female, and historically underrepresented groups. Outcomes of this work will continue to refine existing supports and create pathways that meet students where they are in their college careers academically and socially through pathways that enable rather than disable the motivation of Latinx STEM students to succeed.

The goal of this project is to identify the motivations for pursuing STEM at distinct stages of the academic career and the perception of family and community groups towards STEM education and careers among Latinx and historically underrepresented groups. The research questions include: 1) What are the diversion points for students leaving STEM fields? 2) How do families influence choices in career and education? and 3) How do community members influence choices in career and education? A mixed-method approach will ascertain findings from key constituents that will determine the key metrics needed to redesign the college STEM pipeline to a student-focused guided critical pathway approach. The expected results will reveal the negative impact of a traditionally offered STEM academic program on promising Latinx STEM students. The work will be disseminated through publications, conferences, and white papers, and through website communication. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Nicole Lozano
TXEdinburg2122875The University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyHSI Institutional Transformation Project: Improving Undergraduate STEM Education Through Family-Centered Pedagogy With support from the NSF Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE): Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 3 Institutional Transformation Project (ITP) aims to evaluate and implement a novel Family-Centered Theory of Change Model for enhancing Latinx Students’ success in undergraduate STEM disciplines. Specifically, the project will dismantle deficit thinking systems, policy, and practices that continue to marginalize Latinx students from STEM fields. This project is interconnected with the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) as the organization and the Rio Grande Valley as the community being served. UTRGV is one of the largest “enrolling” HSI and this project will transform it to a truly Hispanic “Serving” Institution utilizing the proposed Family-Centered Model for partnerships between higher education and families from the community. This will create learning opportunities in undergraduate STEM education, programming, infrastructure, and collaborations with other HSIs, such as the South Texas College in the Rio Grande Valley.

By utilizing curricula, pedagogies, and learning frameworks that are typically used in the Mexican American Studies courses, this program will address diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) through the multidimensional intersectional framework for multiple social identities, domains of power, and historicity. Existing STEM courses in mathematics, chemistry and physics that are required for the General Education core will be revised to include a Family-Centered class project that is culturally relevant and addresses DEI in STEM disciplines paving the way towards higher student learning, persistence and degree attainment. The goal of this project is to increase Latinx STEM students’ institutional integration and sense of belonging to UTRGV and the Rio Grande Valley community by partnering with family leaders and community organizers to create educational opportunities and environments that capitalize on the students and families cultural wealth and assets. Research questions include: 1) how and to what extent do partnership dynamics between family and university leaders dismantle deficit thinking practices and policies; and 2) how and to what extent do family-centered projects impact students, families, and faculty. Data will be analyzed using a mixed methods approach. Qualitative and quantitative methods will be used to triangulate evidence found in the qualitative student, faculty, and community partners interviews, reflections, and in audiotaped and videotaped observations. Results of this study will be used as a basis for institutional transformation through the implementation of new curricula, pedagogies, and faculty development and evaluation processes. Findings will also be disseminated nationally through presentations and publications. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Can Saygin
TXSan Antonio2122898Palo Alto CollegeHSI Pilot Project: Promoting Virtual Experiential Learning to Support Part-time and Nontraditional Students This project aims to create virtual experiential learning opportunities that are specifically aimed at part-time and non-traditional students attending Palo Alto College, an Hispanic-serving community college in the greater San Antonio area. The project team is focusing on these particular students for several reasons. Internships and undergraduate research opportunities are essential for students to gain real-world experience and improve their competitiveness upon entering the STEM workforce, while also increasing academic engagement. However, non-traditional and part time students often encounter significant challenges when they are pursuing such co-curricular experiences. Moreover, career services that assist in preparing students for internships are typically optimized to support traditional full-time students. This project will pilot the provision of quality career preparation using a virtual format to improve both access to, and the quality of, professional experiences for part-time and non-traditional student populations.

A key driver of the project's investigators is to capitalize on employers’ recent adoption of remote working and virtual internships as part of their response to COVID-19. Remote and virtual internships may be more accessible to part-time and non-traditional students that may be unable to make a daily commute to an office building or lab. The project will create partnerships with STEM employers and 4-year universities to establish virtual internships and undergraduate research opportunities. New Career Support Services for part-time and non-traditional students will include streaming presentations from industry speakers, access to peer mentors/embedded tutors, and online platforms for building essential professional skills. Three goals guide the project. First is to increase participation in internships and undergraduate research. Second is to improve access to professional networking and high-engagement activities. Third is to increase the availability of virtual mentoring/tutoring for part-time and non-traditional students. Research from this project will generate new knowledge about effective approaches that will increase retention and graduation rates of undergraduate students pursuing degrees in STEM fields at HSIs and two-year colleges. Project outcomes will be disseminated regionally, statewide, and nationally, through conferences, submissions to peer-reviewed journals, and sharing with existing NSF-HSI projects. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Erron Gonzalez
TXDenton2122917University of North TexasEstablishing a Journey of Inclusion, Identity and Intersectionality through Guided Pathways to Enhance Latinx Success in Engineering and Computer Science This project will bring together the University of North Texas (UNT) and North Central Texas College (NCTC) to decrease the time to graduation for transfer students in engineering and computer science (ECS) and better meet the needs of Latinx students. The project leadership takes an asset-based approach to promote racial and gender equity and inclusion for students in Latinx communities in engineering. Major project components include guided pathways designed for co-enrollment at both NCTC and UNT, experiential learning opportunities paired with research experiences, and a faculty and staff fellows program. In addition, the project features co-hosted events for NCTC and UNT administrators, students, faculty and staff to increase the recruitment, engagement and support of Latinx students. The multi-level project design supports the participating institutions' embrace of the strengths, experiences, and perspectives of Latinx students as part of an effort to create a broad, cohesive community. Funded by the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), the project will disseminate a collection of best practices arising from their collaborative effort that can serve as a model for partnerships between community colleges and universities designed to increase representation of the Latinx community in the engineering and computer science workforce.

The multiple project components are designed to embody the spirit of "servingness," whereby an HSI grows from being merely "Hispanic enrolling" to more deeply embrace its designation as "Hispanic serving." The project will explore aspects of Inclusion, Identity, and Intersectionality (the three I’s) and how they combine to support three major goals. First is to broaden the recruitment and transfer opportunities for Latinx students to study ECS majors. Second is to build a shared institutional identity among faculty, student allies, and advocates at an HSI. Third is to promote persistence among Latinx students with intersecting identities by developing their engineering identity. Three research questions will guide the project efforts. 1) How do Latinx students navigate the engineering fields at an HSI and how do their opportunities and experiences at an HSI relate to their outcomes? 2) How do faculty and staff incorporate Latinx students’ collective cultural wealth into their curricular and co-curricular programs? 3) How do the community college experiences of Latinx students inform their pathways through engineering and computer science programs at an HSI? Through the project, UNT and NCTC will offer new programs to incorporate an asset-based approach to promote the success of Latinx students. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Nandika D'Souza
TXEl Paso2122934University of Texas at El PasoPromoting Student Success through a Social, Academic, and Institutional Support System in Engineering Education With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) Program, this Track 2 project will develop and study a sustainable system of academic, institutional, and social supports (i.e., formal peer-mentoring program) for first-year engineering students at the University of Texas El Paso. The Promoviendo el Éxito Estudiantil a través de un Sistema de Apoyo (PromESA) model offers educational and personal support for students by providing mentees with tutoring, advising and connections to available university services. Equally importantly, the project will provide social-emotional support, provide opportunities to build friendships, and affirm students’ sense of belonging, particularly for Latinx students. PromESA components will specifically account for students’ intersecting identities (e.g., gender, first-generation college student status, cultural heritage). Research findings will inform efforts to provide academic, institutional, and social support for under-served populations while addressing the lack of a sense of belonging experienced by Latinx students in engineering education.

This project will implement a holistic, socio-culturally responsive peer-mentoring program adapted from the evidence-based Promotores de Educación Program developed at California State University at Long Beach. This multidimensional initiative will be guided by four objectives. First is to increase students’ sense of belonging by incorporating holistic, socio-culturally responsive practices into training and professional development for faculty and peer mentors. Second is to build awareness of Latinx cultural assets and values into the landscape of the piloting department. Third is to increase participating students’ retention, persistence, and academic performance in their engineering degree programs. Fourth is to establish structures and policies to institutionalize major project components beyond the award period. The embedded action research effort will use a combination of qualitative and participatory research methods to offer a fuller understanding of the impact of peer-mentoring programs for students from historically minoritized/marginalized populations. The research will specifically examine how such programs can impact participants and narrow the knowledge gap on the impacts of peer-mentoring programs for Latinx students pursuing engineering degrees, particularly when leveraging their cultural strengths and their intersectional identities. Furthermore, the knowledge generated will provide the engineering education research community with a deeper understanding of the unique experiences and perspectives of Latinx students.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Cole Joslyn
TXCollege Station2124888Texas A&M Engineering Experiment StationStandard Research: Developing Ethical STEM Research Competency and Self-Efficacy in High School and College Engineering Courses This project aims to develop instructional materials that support ethical practices in STEM at the high school and undergraduate levels to improve student outcomes and self-efficacy related to ethical STEM research. Through the design and implementation of STEM research ethics modules in an undergraduate engineering curriculum, the project generates data related to the ethical knowledge, reasoning skills, attitudes, and practices of several thousand engineering undergraduate students. This snapshot in turn informs the development of a three-week enrichment opportunity for high school STEM teachers. Working with university faculty and graduate students, high school teachers are supported in developing learning modules on ethical issues and implementing them in the high school context. Project data also guides the creation of targeted interventions that will be used in second, third, and fourth year engineering courses. A second data snapshot is then taken by testing and surveying engineering students in their capstone courses to provide a broad overview of the competence and self-confidence that engineering students have in dealing with ethical STEM issues, to determine the efficacy of various interventions, and to improve future interventions.

This data-driven project uses a mixed-methods approach to generate a better understanding of the impact of ethics interventions at various points in a student's academic development by developing and using a set of instruments to measure cognitive, affective, and behavioral aspects of ethical competency and self-efficacy. Utilizing repeated measures and possessing a longitudinal dimension, the project generates data about the development of ethical competency, ethical self-efficacy, and the relationships between competency, self-efficacy, and the instructional interventions. The interventions designed for secondary and tertiary classrooms build on best practices for micro-insertion of ethics content that are practical and help students understand how technical competencies fit within broader social, economic, and environmental contexts. The capstone data collection also provides a measure of the impact of other experiences (e.g., undergraduate research, internships, Engineers Without Borders) and courses (e.g., humanities, social science, and business courses) on ethical development. The project has a secondary benefit of improving the allocation of class time and other educational resources to inform the ways in which STEM ethics education can be integrated into STEM coursework.

This project is also supported by the NSF HSI and DRK-12 programs. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. Projects in the DRK-12 program build on fundamental research in STEM education and prior research and development efforts that provide theoretical and empirical justification for proposed projects.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Bimal Nepal
TXSan Antonio2140647University of Texas at San AntonioCo-Constructing Faculty Critical Consciousness In Engineering Education The overall goals of this project are twofold: to advance understanding of the system of privileges and advantages in engineering education and to create a professional development program to help engineering faculty develop the skills to critically question social, cultural, historical, and political effects of this privilege in engineering. Engineering education is built on a system that historically privileges and normalizes the values, beliefs, experiences, and perspectives of particular identities that guide the work of the field. While there has been substantial research into the masculinity of engineering, there has been limited research about the role of privilege in engineering. This project will generate new knowledge by focusing on three research questions: (1) How and in what ways does systemic racism manifest in engineering education? (2) What strategies can be used to effectively help engineering faculty develop their critical consciousness? and (3) How and in what ways does the growth of critical consciousness support faculty to identify and challenge the systemic barriers preventing racial equity in engineering? The research will support engineering faculty to interrogate the associated systemic barriers preventing racial equity.

This four-year project will examine guided, reflective journaling of faculty experiences in engineering and field notes from observations of the researchers' own professional engineering settings (e.g. faculty meetings, classroom observations). These artifacts will serve as the baseline for creating the faculty development program during Year 2. During Years 3-4, the program will be implemented and revised with two cohorts of 16 engineering faculty each, in a recursive co-construction of critical consciousness and scripts of race and racial identity. This project will result in the creation of immersive experiences for engineering faculty that serve as a vehicle for the development of critical consciousness, which is the foundation to enact changes that will address racial inequity in engineering and provide a model that supports practices to challenge privilege in engineering spaces.

This collaborative project is funded by the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EHR Racial Equity). The program supports projects that promote racial equity in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce development through research and practice. Awarded projects center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by the inequities caused by systemic racism in STEM fields. This program aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Joel Mejia
TXAustin2140904University of Texas at AustinExamining Blackness in Postsecondary STEM Education through a Multidimensional-Multiplicative Lens Despite well-intentioned university efforts to support Black undergraduate STEM students, policy and practice reforms run the risk of not appropriately benefiting all Black people due to pervasive, deficit-based assumptions about Black racial identities and the types of structural engagement needed to advance holistic, racial well-being in transformative and sustainable ways. Stated simply, STEM contexts do not adequately support Black undergraduate STEM students because STEM educators and practitioners remain unsure of what Blackness means for individuals, thereby constraining true racial equity endeavors. Contemporary literature regarding race posits instead that embodiment(s) of Blackness differ across multiple dimensions and axes, including ethnic identity (e.g., African American, Caribbean American, Nigerian American), place identity (e.g., South, Midwest), and generational identity (e.g., first-generation, second-generation, third plus generation). Black students from different ethnic and generational identities having varied perceptions of the racial climate and understandings of their STEM experiences. Recognizing the scope of Blackness and its implications for creating and sustaining holistic, heterogenous conceptions of racial equity in STEM, the team will establish a collaborative network among six institutions (two HBCUS, two PWIs, one majority Black institution, and one HSI) located across the Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Southwest, and Midwest regions of the US to study how Black undergraduate STEM students’ notions of Blackness vary with respect to these dimensions.

The research team will conduct an exploratory sequential mixed methods project, integrating mosaic ethnography, survey design and administration of the survey to Black undergraduate STEM students across five states. Through these methods, the students’ conceptions of Blackness will be explored as it relates to their STEM engagement and perspectives of racial equity in STEM. In efforts to foster racial equity in STEM for all Black people, this project will produce tools of analysis (i.e., theories, research methods, qualitative and quantitative measures) and translational products (i.e., professional developments, aminations, infographics) that will change how institutional and organizational policies, practices, and future research treat Black people in STEM, thereby promoting tailored resources and supports to meet Black people’s nuanced needs. The desired outcomes from this work will inform the development and implementation of racial equity focused policies and practices in STEM education, facilitating increased access and sustained engagement in STEM for Black undergraduate students.

This collaborative project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EHR Racial Equity). The program supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This program aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Funds for EHR Racial Equity are pooled from programs across EHR in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Tia Madkins
TXSan Marcos2141925Texas State University - San MarcosGenerating a Research-Informed Transition to a Mathematical Proof Curriculum This project aims to serve the national interest by developing a research-informed curriculum for mathematics transition to proof courses. Proofs and logical reasoning are tools used in mathematics to solve advanced problems. Many STEM majors, especially those in the mathematical sciences, need support in learning how to read and produce mathematical proofs. This skill is a primary means of learning and doing mathematics in third- and fourth-year college mathematics courses. Unlike most existing curricula, the new curriculum will focus on guiding students to read, understand, and appreciate mathematical proofs through several intertwined project activities. Rooted in prior research, the project's curriculum will support students in learning mathematical logic through reading and comparing proof texts. In conjunction with this, the project team will partner with several mathematicians to produce rich mathematical proof texts for students to study. As it is the case that students most often learn literature by reading great works, the curriculum will help students to learn about mathematical proofs by reading rich, challenging, and engaging proofs. The curriculum will include biographical stories of the mathematician authors to humanize mathematics. Project team members will collaborate with mathematicians of color and women mathematicians. The curriculum will provide an opportunity for students to see broader representation in the mathematical sciences. The three underlying components - reading, understanding, and appreciating - are designed to empower students to learn about and from mathematical proofs. They will support students in experiencing mathematics as a human activity in which they can participate.

This project will pursue several goals related to enhancing student experiences and successes in transition to proof (TTP) courses. Because there has been relatively little clarity about the specific learning goals for TTP courses, a primary project goal is to build on prior research to establish clearer learning goals for TTP courses. A second goal is to incorporate the learning goals in the process of designing, developing, implementing, and refining a research-based curriculum for TTP courses in mathematics. The project aims to generate new knowledge and fill gaps in the TPP literature through the project’s research findings. An additional goal is to disseminate project outcomes and curriculum resources nationwide, particularly to mathematical sciences departments working to enhance student learning and success in TTP courses as well as subsequent courses and scenarios that rely on problem solving, proofs, and proving. The researchers will employ a rigorous research design to pursue efforts for establishing a curriculum while developing a theory regarding how learning occurs in this teaching and learning space. The project hypotheses is that: comparing proofs will support students in learning abstract logical concepts and proof techniques; analyzing and discussing complex proofs of non-trivial claims will support students in learning from proof texts; and reading stories from a diverse set of professional mathematicians will help humanize proof-based mathematics while envisioning their participation in the discipline. The project will employ research-based measures of understanding of logic, proof comprehension, and belonging in mathematics to study implementation of these hypotheses in the curriculum. The researchers will compare these outcomes to TTP courses taught with standard curricula, and, in the process, will study the learning activity fostered in the classroom to gain insight into these learning processes. Curriculum materials will be freely available to faculty and students online. These resources will also be disseminated through workshops, journal publications, professional conferences, and professional communities of mathematics instructors. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools. This project is also supported by the NSF IUSE:HSI program, which seeks to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Paul Dawkins
TXHouston2150057Houston Baptist UniversityHSI Pilot Project: Developing an Inquiry-Based Research Module to Promote Academic Success in a Diverse Undergraduate STEM Student Population The importance of this project is that aims to increase the academic success rates of sophomore STEM students and narrow the achievement gap between under-represented minority (URM) or first-generation (FG) and other cohort members by immersing students in an authentic research experience. Attrition rates for STEM students in their second year are significant, especially for URM and FG students. The project supports students during this critical period, they will persist in STEM majors and ultimately increase their representation in the workforce. Houston Baptist University (HBU) is a four-year undergraduate Hispanic-Serving Institution in Houston, Texas, the most diverse city in the nation. HBU’s College of Science and Engineering student population is 18% African Americans, 47% Hispanic, and 19% FG. Instructors and peer-mentors will guide students through a research project which promotes the development of their research and interpersonal skills, both essential in the STEM workforce. The expected outcome of this work is to promote students’ self-identification as scientists, which will ultimately lead to increased academic persistence.

This project will apply the knowledge students are learning in their sophomore-level Cellular and Molecular Biology course, which in turn is expected to increase success rates. Students will also receive purposeful instruction in research techniques and interpersonal skills, to prepare them for a future STEM career. Both short and long-term goals of this project include increased success rates in STEM courses, narrowing achievement gaps between URM/FG students and other members of their cohort, increased graduation rates, and an increase in sense of belonging within the STEM community. The project’s focus on student driven research is a proven approach for increasing science engagement of minorities, Hispanics, and women and will increase overall student retention in STEM programs and prepare young people for entry into the STEM workforce. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Matthew Blank
TXEl Paso2201576University of Texas at El PasoMeasuring the Social Networks and Community Cultural Wealth of Latina/o STEM Undergraduates This project is a collaboration between social scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and scientists within the University of Texas System Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) aimed at understanding the assets Latinx students bring to their science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and careers. Although Latinx undergraduates plan to enter STEM at rates equivalent to or exceeding those of their peers from other racial/ethnic groups, they are underrepresented in the STEM workforce and among degree recipients in STEM. As a counter to deficit-based studies that investigate these discrepancies by emphasizing what Latinx students lack, this study focuses on the community cultural resources Latinx students bring to their education and careers. By mapping Latinx students’ social networks, measuring their community cultural wealth (CCW), documenting their experiences with STEM research, and tracking changes in their professional identity as they move from their junior to senior year and then out into the work6force or into STEM graduate programs, this project will advance the ways eight LSAMP institutions can institutionalize supportive structures for undergraduate STEM education.

The project team will document the experiences and relationships of a group of Latina/o students each fall over the course of 3 years, and will employ new quantitative techniques for assessing their CCW during their college-to-career transition. The longitudinal mixed method design is among the first to combine CCW with ego network analysis. This not only expands the epistemologies and methodologies available to STEM education researchers, but more broadly speaking, can inform institutions of higher education as they develop the CCW- and social network-based STEM programming that is critical to Latina/o undergraduate STEM education. Finally, this project illustrates the importance of diversifying the range of institutions and partnerships Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) and emerging HSIs can have, given they will continue to bear witness to the collective racialized experiences of Latinx students pursuing their post-secondary education.

This collaborative project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EHR Racial Equity). The program supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This program aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Funds for EHR Racial Equity are pooled from programs across EHR in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Benjamin Flores
TXArlington2204309University of Texas at ArlingtonThe 2023 Gulf States Math Alliance Conference and Faculty Development Workshop This project serves the national interest by working to broadening participation of students from underrepresented and underserved populations in the mathematical sciences. Specifically, this project will organize the 2023 Annual Gulf States Math Alliance (GSMATH) Conference and offer a faculty development workshop to support the use of collaborative mentoring strategies by mathematics faculty at participating institutions. The GSMATH Conference will be held at Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas during February 24-26, 2023. The conference is organized by GSMATH, which is the regional mathematics alliance covering the states of Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi that includes an active and strong network of faculty mentors in over 25 HSIs (Hispanic Serving Institutions), HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities), and other institutions that serve a diverse population of students. Building from six prior GSMATH conferences, it is anticipated that 125 students will attend the conference with an additional 25 faculty also participating in the faculty development workshop. The conference will provide multiple sessions centered on demystifying the pathways through undergraduate degree programs in the mathematical sciences. Keynote speakers, panel discussions, a student poster session, and a graduate and undergraduate program fair will provide multiple opportunities for students to network, ask questions, and receive mentoring. The faculty workshop will focus on equitably supporting students as they grow from 2-year and 4-year colleges into graduate education or the workforce.

The GSMATH conference will directly contribute to efforts to broaden participation and promote equity in the mathematical sciences. This, in turn, has potential to improve STEM education and academic outcomes for students across disciplines. Panels like “What I wish I knew Before Graduate School”, “Math Career Pathways (Academic and Non-Academic)", and “Research Opportunities for Undergraduate Majors” will allow participating students to get advice from faculty and experienced peers. The involvement of community college mathematics faculty and students is a critical element of the GSMATH conference, as 2-year colleges are a starting point for many students pursuing bachelor’s and graduate degrees in the mathematical sciences. The faculty development workshop will not only enable faculty to collaboratively mentor those students throughout the year but will also address important issues in DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), critical transition from CCs to four-year undergraduate studies, and from undergraduate to graduate studies. Faculty development will also strengthen connections between participating institutions, supporting the growth of a responsive community of mentors across the discipline. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs are supported by this program.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Jianzhong Su
TXHouston2209615University of HoustonIntergovernmental Personnel AwardElsa Gonzalez
TXSeguin2214420Texas Lutheran UniversityCollaborative Research: The Role of Co-curricular Service and Outreach Activities on Persistence and Success for Undergraduate Physics Students This project aims to serve the national interest by studying how undergraduate student participation in informal physics outreach programs for K-12 students affects their success as physics majors. Significant research efforts have focused on improving retention in STEM in formal educational settings, such as the classroom or laboratory, while the impact of student participation in informal physics outreach programs remains unclear. Prior work suggests that improving students' sense of belonging, defined by the feeling of being valued and accepted as a legitimate member of their chosen scientific discipline can reduce attrition rates and increase resilience, particularly among students from underrepresented populations. Participating in outreach experiences may develop skills and abilities beyond the focus of formal education, including communication, teamwork, and creativity. The American Physical Society and American Association of Physics Teachers have identified these skills as a high priority for physics programs to prepare students for 21st century careers. Thsi project intends to conduct a national survey of undergraduate physics majors to assess student engagement in informal physics programs and to study how the engagement is related to student success factors. The analysis of survey results should inform a set of best-practice recommendations for physics departments for improving outreach programs and transforming culture to help students succeed.

This project plans to study the impact of informal, co-curricular physics outreach programs, which are often designed and facilitated by undergraduate students, on students’ physics identity, retention and persistence, sense of belonging, and the development of 21st century career skills. Data will be collected via a survey instrument distributed to physics programs at US colleges and universities. This project intends to create and validate a new survey instrument with closed and open-ended questions to probe students’ perceived value of the outreach experience and its impact on measures of confidence, sense of community, ability to work in teams, competence in communicating science, perceptions of ability to develop creative solutions to problems and perceived impact of experiential and collaborative learning on physics knowledge. The survey will be given to undergraduate students across the US through the existing network of active Society of Physics Students chapters, creating a large dataset that allows for an objective examination of how outreach programs support undergraduate student populations, including those traditionally underrepresented in STEM. Analysis of the survey responses will explore the relationship of outreach activities to physics identity including internal and external recognition as a member of the physics community, interest and motivation in physics, beliefs related to performance and competency within physics, confidence and physics self-efficacy, and desire to persist in the field, as well as acquisition and development of career skills important to 21st century careers. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools. This project is also supported by the NSF IUSE:HSI program, which has the goals of enhancing the quality of undergraduate STEM education, and increasing the recruitment, retention, and graduation rates of students pursuing associate’s or baccalaureate degrees in STEM.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Toni Sauncy
TXEl Paso2215849University of Texas at El PasoAn Online Tool to Support Productive Struggles and Improve the Self-Efficacy of Undergraduate Students in Introductory Computer Science Courses. This project aims to serve the national interest by developing an online platform that will help to improve retention in introductory computing courses. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that the demand for computing jobs will continue to grow in the coming years. However, the projected number of computer science graduates does not meet the predicted demand. One of the reasons for this is the high dropout rates of computing majors. A computer science degree is tied to developing technical skills, which may be taught while students solve problems involving challenging tasks. Solving such challenging tasks helps students to learn but often results in struggles with the material. While such struggles are usually linked with diminishing self-efficacy, these struggles can become instruments to promote learning and self-efficacy, thus becoming productive struggles. Converting classroom challenges to productive struggles as a means for learning may help to improve retention in introductory computer science classes. The online platform, called PULSE (Productive strUggle for deveLoping Self Efficacy), is intended to foster productive struggles, improve self-efficacy, and enhance skill development.

PULSE will make use of long-form computer programming assignments outside the classroom. The platform will use machine learning-driven approaches to identify the obstacles students face while solving a programming assignment. This will enable instructors to intervene when students struggle, allowing students to learn from the struggles and improve their work before the submission deadline. The project should advance computer science education by generating new knowledge about student struggles and programming activity patterns in solving coding problems outside the classroom. The insights of the proposed research may provide ways to reduce student dropout rates in introductory computing classes in college. PULSE will be released as open-source software allowing other institutions to deploy it in their programming courses. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools. This project is also supported by the NSF IUSE:HSI program, which has the goals of enhancing the quality of undergraduate STEM education, and increasing the recruitment, retention, and graduation rates of students pursuing associate’s or baccalaureate degrees in STEM.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Mahmud Hossain
TXEdinburg2216308The University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyImproving the Quality of Learning among Physics Students through a Synergistic Implementation of a Team-Based Learning Approach in a Hispanic-Serving Institution This project aims to serve the national interest by improving student learning in undergraduate physics using Team-based Learning (TBL) in multiple sections of lower division and advanced level physics classes. The project will address common gaps in students’ conceptual and problem-solving skills using interactive delivery of content that is essential for understanding the fundamental laws of nature. In TBL classes, students engage in learning through pre-class preparation, readiness assurance testing (with immediate feedback), and concept application via group-problem solving. Carefully formed permanent teams of students work on a task that has direct application of physics concepts. By implementing TBL, passive instruction and learning will be replaced with interactive teaching and active engagement learning techniques, which have been shown to be effective in promoting deeper learning and in enhancing social and collaborative skills essential in today’s STEM workforce. By improving students’ understanding and enhancing development of core competencies (such as critical thinking, empirical and quantitative skills, written and oral communication, teamwork skills) the project will benefit the local Hispanic community and serve the national interest of improving quality of education in underrepresented student populations.

The goals of this project are to: (1) improve the quality of learning of physics students through a concerted effort in implementing Team-Based Learning (TBL); (2) investigate how TBL can be utilized for providing a culturally responsive teaching environment; (3) study the issues associated with the implementation of TBL teaching approach; and (4) create a supportive mechanism for sustaining TBL implementation in multiple physics courses. Physics faculty members will be trained and supported to implement team-based learning in their courses. Working in teams, instructors will redesign their physics courses by developing TBL curriculum materials that engage students while guided by the principles of Backward Design. Lessons learned from this project could provide a model for other departments or institutions for a collaborative approach to implementing active learning in their STEM courses. In addition, the project will provide substantial professional development opportunities for faculty, both locally and nationally, via workshops and hands-on training in the development and implementation of specially designed instructional materials for TBL classes. The project is also expected to generate valuable data on TBL implementation issues, on sustainability of active learning environment in physics classes, and on comparisons of TBL with other active learning techniques. Overall, the project will serve the local community and the national interests of improving STEM education both at the students’ and instructors’ level. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools. This project is also supported by the NSF IUSE:HSI program, which has the goals of enhancing the quality of undergraduate STEM education, and increasing the recruitment, retention, and graduation rates of students pursuing associate’s or baccalaureate degrees in STEM.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Edgar Corpuz
TXEl Paso2217147University of Texas at El PasoRCN-UBE: Advancing CURE Teaching Assistant Professional Development via the CURE TAPESTRy Network This project aims to serve the national interest by engaging facilitators of biology course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) in the creation and evaluation of novel professional development resources and opportunities designed for laboratory coordinators and teaching assistants (TAs) who are, themselves, responsible for leading CUREs. The research-oriented nature of a CURE presents a unique set of instructional challenges for those that teach them, requiring distinct professional development (PD) opportunities. Given that no community currently exists that focuses on CURE TA PD and the literature on CURE TA PD is limited, this project aims to establish the CURE Teaching Assistant Professional Development to Enhance Scientific Teaching, Research, and Mentoring Capacity (TAPESTRy) network, with the primary goal of advancing CURE TA PD knowledge and best practices.

Specifically, this project will: (1) establish the CURE TAPESTRy network and cultivate growth in the network through recruitment of diverse individuals interested in professional development for laboratory coordinators and TAs PD; (2) characterize the current landscape of PD opportunities for CURE TAs through a literature review and national survey; (3) create, implement, and evaluate an innovative year-long fellowship program for CURE TA PD facilitators, in which fellows will create and assess CURE TA PD resources; (4) generate a curated repository of field-tested CURE TA PD resources, which will be freely available to practitioners and researchers; and (5) develop, launch, and assess an edX “train-the-trainer” massively-open online course (MOOC) for CURE TA PD facilitators. By promoting PD for CURE TAs, the CURE TAPESTRy network will contribute to the professional growth of TAs while simultaneously cultivating the pedagogical knowledge and intellectual capital needed to assist undergraduates in developing their research skills. This project is being jointly funded by the Directorate for Biological Sciences, Division of Biological Infrastructure, and the Directorate for Education and Human Resources, Division of Undergraduate Education as part of their efforts to address the challenges posed in Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action (http://visionandchange/finalreport/).This project is also supported by the NSF IUSE:HSI program, which has the goals of enhancing the quality of undergraduate STEM education, and increasing the recruitment, retention, and graduation rates of students pursuing associate’s or baccalaureate degrees in STEM.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Jeffrey Olimpo
TXSan Antonio2225199University of Texas at San AntonioHSI Institutional Transformation Project: STEM Undergraduate Education through a Hispanic Student Success Framework With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 3 ITP aims to develop an HSI Student Success Servingness Framework that focuses on pedagogy development, through evidence-based teaching approaches, combined with enhanced student peer mentoring and professional development of graduate students and faculty with the aim of improving student learning, student sense of belongingness and overall success. Additional attention is needed in STEM disciplines to improve graduation and retention rates of students by undertaking a range of curricular and mentoring reforms which will result in systemic changes that support Hispanic students. The proposed project builds on our dedication to increasing diversity in the STEM workforce particularly Hispanic students. This plan is an integrated approach to increase the number of undergraduate underrepresented minorities who graduate from the UTSA Colleges of Engineering and Integrated Design and Sciences. The opportunity for UTSA to harness the assets of our first generation and Hispanic students’ experiences and employ these experiences as resources could lead to innovation and discovery enterprises in STEM. It is expected that the program will benefit STEM education by using the new understandings of servingness to develop organizational change that best serves Hispanic students at HSI and non-HSI institutions.

The project will successfully complete the following tasks: 1) Development of an HSI Student Servingness Framework; 2) Pedagogical development of engineering courses focused on Computational Literacy which includes professional development of graduate students and faculty; 3) Review of current policies, practices, and structures for undergraduate students with a focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion and 4) Development and subsequent expansion of Peer Mentoring Program and TA Teaching Academy. Our innovative cross-disciplinary partnership between STEM and Education faculty will improve student learning and self-efficacy by (1) developing new methods of instruction and (2) implementing associated curricular changes focused on computational literacy through evidence-based teaching approaches and STEM faculty coaching. The HSI Student Servingness Framework will allow for institutional change through curriculum changes, policy review, and expanding peer mentoring and other activities. Expected outcomes using the proposed multi-faceted approach are 1) increase the retention, graduation and persistence rates of the students; 2) improve the students’ self-efficacy and sense of belongingness; 3) give faculty opportunities to develop innovative, equity-centered evidence-based best practice teaching approaches that enhance student learning and equity in the classroom; and 4) provide students with marketable skills to be successful in the professional world. The results will be disseminated through a website, conference presentations and peer reviewed publications, and university workshops. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Heather Shipley
TXSan Antonio2225207Our Lady of the Lake UniversitySupporting Persistence by Increasing the Relevance of Algebra to Learning: A Competency-based Curriculum for College Algebra With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program, this Implementation and Evaluation (Track 2) project aims to develop an empirically defensible model for how HSIs and liberal arts institutions can empower students who are underrepresented in their participation in STEM fields of study, to succeed in their early STEM coursework and graduate in a timely manner. The project will improve STEM outcomes at Our Lady of the Lake University by establishing connections between students’ early coursework and future classes through the redesign of the first-year College Algebra course combined with the development of a robust learning support system. While it is required across a range of disciplines, the traditional College Algebra curriculum often lacks relevance to students' majors and cultural knowledge, or obvious connections to its applications in non-mathematical fields. By realigning the curriculum to reflect competencies required for students’ future studies, tapping into students’ cultural knowledge, and employing those students as learning assistants and tutors, this project will extend the research on the efficacy of high-impact pedagogical strategies, the importance of socio-cultural knowledge on learning, and the effects of both on student persistence. This project will benefit students by introducing major-specific course content early, thus improving math literacy and promoting a growth mindset.

To examine the effects of increasing academic and cultural relevance in early STEM coursework, mathematics and non-mathematics faculty will collaborate to redesign a lab-supported College Algebra course into three discipline-specific course sections. Concurrently, the project will develop a two-tiered learning support system to aid students in developing and contextualizing their algebra skills. Undergraduate learning assistants will provide support in the classroom, while specialized peer tutors will assist students as they progress through their upper-level courses. The project will study the effects of these activities across demographic levels, in relation to students’ psycho-social characteristics (sense of belonging, mathematical self-efficacy, mindset, mathematical self-concept, and perceptions of relevance), faculty beliefs (about culturally responsive teaching and students’ prior knowledge and mindsets), and academic outcomes. In addition to significantly increasing completion rates for College Algebra and algebra-requisite courses, STEM retention rates, and STEM graduation rates among a predominantly Latinx and female student body, this project will contribute to knowledge about conditions that lead to improved STEM teaching and learning. Results will be made available to institutions who wish to implement similar approaches through a dedicated website and relevant publications. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) on diversifying and increasing participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) on understanding ways to improve institutional capacity at HSIs.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Daniel Cheshire
TXDenton2225229University of North TexasDeveloping a High-Quality Academic Environment for Broadening Participation of Hispanic Students in Computing With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program, this Implementation and Evaluation (Track 2) project aims to broaden the participation of Hispanic students in computing by integrating cultural capital into a variety of educational activities. These include innovative curriculum development, adoption of high-impact pedagogies, supporting exemplary interactions, and fostering a diverse and inclusive culture. The project will develop a responsive environment infused with culturally competent practices to facilitate student success in computing. It will also broaden participation in computing education by teaching essential competencies for career development. The project is designed to fundamentally change computing education and support institutional cultural change. Significant factors and cultural capital structures that impact the broadening of the participation of Hispanic students in computing will be identified.

This project will implement four groups of asset-based initiatives. First is infusing computational thinking and professional skill development into the curriculum. Second is building an effective platform for supporting students' interactions with peers and faculty. Third is developing active and personalized learning for teaching computing courses. Fourth, and finally, is collaborating with education experts to foster an inclusive educational culture. An adaptable plan for recruiting Hispanic high school graduates and community college students will be developed. The project will enhance the quality of computing education to increase the enrollment, retention, and graduation rate of undergraduate Hispanic students in computing programs. Another anticipated outcome is gaining an understanding of cultural capital's impact on student academic achievement, retention, and well-being. The team will support implementing the initiatives for other programs at universities and community colleges in North Texas by sharing the experience, research results, and educational outcomes. Findings will be broadly distributed through articles and presentations. Given the diverse nature and context of HSIs, achieving these goals requires attention to creative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation. Action research will be embedded in a mixed-methods design to identify effective strategies for instruction, communication, and retention. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Junhua Ding
TXHouston2225246University of HoustonHSI Implementation and Evaluation Project: Building a Problem-Solving Community of Scholars in STEM With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 2: IEP aims to improve student success, retention, and degree persistence among underrepresented Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) majors at the University of Houston. While transitioning from high school to college remains a challenge for students in STEM, many institutions provide various programming for improving first-year retention rates, including undergraduate research, active learning in the classroom, living and learning communities, summer bridge programming, and peer-led learning. However, sophomore year retention has become a great concern for persistence since this is when STEM students typically enroll in key “gateway” courses, and targeted programming for achieving success in these courses is often times not available. For groups, who are underrepresented in STEM majors and careers, this may be more challenging as they also work to establish a sense of community and belonging in their major departments. The University of Houston (UH) is a designated Hispanic and Asian, Native American and Pacific Islander Serving institution and is ranked in the top ten by US News and World Report for student ethnic diversity. This program at UH will provide support for STEM majors beyond their freshmen year and foster a community of learners to promote persistence to degree completion.

The overarching goal of this project is to improve STEM student retention by implementing evidence-based interventions and best practices to enhance students’ content knowledge, develop their sense of belonging, and strengthen their STEM identity to promote success beyond the freshman year. This will be accomplished through a 5-week Problem-Solving Community of Scholars bridge program (between freshmen and sophomore year) that exposes students to sophomore-level “gateway” course content, a problem-solving workshop for skills and community building, and support via the Guaranteed 4.0 Learning System which will provide tailored guidance and feedback on the process of learning for STEM student success. The results of this project will provide knowledge on how support programming can be implemented, scaled, and sustained for promoting underrepresented minority student success in STEM. It will also contribute to the Community Cultural Wealth research literature by uncovering knowledge related to factors that may inhibit and contribute to the success of underrepresented STEM students in a HSI context. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Jerrod Henderson
TXEdinburg2225247The University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyHSI Implementation and Evaluation Project: The Freshman Year Innovator Experience (FYIE) - Bridging the URM Gap in STEM With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 2: IEP aims to help freshman mechanical engineering students with their skills gap, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, to increase their chances for academic success and retention rates. The Freshman Year Innovator Experience will provide students with learning experience to develop critical self-transformation skills to help them face college’s academic challenges. Students will take two courses with parallel projects, in Introduction to Mechanical Engineering MECE 1101 they will work on a technical project: the redesign of a simple electric kitchen appliance while in Learning Frameworks (UNIV 1301) students will work on an academic project: the design of their academic pathways. Through adaptive expertise exercises, students will learn how to transfer engineering solving techniques as self-transformation skills from their technical project to their academic project. The outcomes of this project will include the coordinated curriculum development for both UNIV 1301 and MECE 1101 first-year courses, a summer professional development program for course instructors, and implementation and assessment of the coordinated courses. This work is important since it will equip students with critical skills to face academic challenges such as course planning, decision making, among others. This work will contribute a novel self-transformation approach where students apply technical knowledge to solve academic challenges. The project will broaden the participation of underrepresented student minorities in STEM at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, contributing to a diverse and prepared STEM workforce and encouraging them to pursue advanced degrees.

The goals of this project are: 1) increase the number of STEM degrees awarded to Hispanics, 2) broadening participation of females in STEM related fields, and 3) increase the persistence and self-efficacy in STEM fields amid COVID-19. The project hypothesizes that the Freshman Year Innovator Experience effectively contributes to the retention of underrepresented minority freshman mechanical engineering students, particularly female students, effectively contributing to an increase in their persistence and self-efficacy. The theoretical framework combines design innovation, design of academic pathways, and adaptive expertise for student self-transformation, and it will help undergraduate underrepresented minority students to develop valuable skills for academic success. The project will advance understanding of student self-transformation skills for academic success. The specific aims of the project include the development of the coordinated curricula for UNIV 1301 Learning Frameworks and MECE 1101 Introduction to Mechanical Engineering first-year courses, an instructors’ summer training program, implementation, assessment, and institutionalization of the activities. It is expected that participating students will improve their retention rates by 10% and that the implemented activities become institutionalized. This project will provide socioeconomic development opportunities to Rio Grande Valley students, many of whom are first-generation college students and are not yet fully aware of career opportunities in STEM fields. Furthermore, it will provide an evidence-based approach to be implemented at similar institutions across the nation. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Noe Vargas Hernandez
TXSan Antonio2225542San Antonio CollegeHSI Pilot Project: San Antonio College’s Campeones de STEM With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 Pilot Project aims to enhance college student recruitment, participation, and course retention in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)-focused courses through the development of mentorship opportunities and scholarships. The project will be critical for meeting and fulfilling exponential demands in high-demand, high paying STEM related jobs in the greater San Antonio area and the national region. Importantly, given that persistent racial and ethnic inequality in STEM degree attainment, with lower persistence rates of Hispanic, and low-income STEM majors, it is timely to address STEM-related awareness gaps in secondary-to-higher education and transition to college. To solve these problems, our project will provide leadership opportunities to first-year students, with training from industry and academic experts on STEM-knowledge dissemination strategies to focused target audiences namely, secondary school children from similar socioeconomic backgrounds. Our project goals will include the establishment of a San Antonio College (SAC) Campeones de STEM Academy, a two-day institute designed to invigorate and enhance SAC’s existing STEM programs.

The principal goal of Campeones de STEM initiative is to improve student participation and course retention in STEM courses at SAC, while enriching secondary STEM education at a target middle school. The project will provide scholarships to selected STEM major students currently enrolled in their first year at the college. This opportunity will pair these selected Campeones de STEM participants with selected general science courses at an inner-city middle school in SAC’s service-area. Project activities include on- and off-site events, such as visits with local and renowned STEM leaders, hands-on science experiments, and field trips to local STEM centers and museums as well as a tour of the SAC STEM departments, classrooms, and laboratories. Expected outcomes include increased student retention in STEM courses and significantly greater involvement of secondary school children in STEM education. Our project aims will investigate the following research questions: 1) Does SAC’s Campeones de STEM Academy significantly improve STEM awareness, and thereby, course participation, persistence, and PGR in first-year college students? 2) Is STEM outreach to secondary education students effective in improving interest in the STEM fields? and 3) Do informal STEM-related activities, including hands-on science experiments designed by college STEM faculty, and mentoring improve role model-based peer-learning endeavors in STEM and result in an incremental increase in STEM course participation and retention in first-year college students? Research methodologies used to asses these questions will include specified metrics compiled from quantitative and qualitative data. Expected results include an increase in general awareness and interest in the STEM fields for both secondary middle school students and first-year college students, higher rates of persistence, productive grade rate (PGR), and course completion for the SAC participants, and the development of the secondary school students’ STEM-related skills through informal educational activities and mentorship. Apart from improved academic merits, this project has potential for broader impacts at a societal-level via its peer-to-peer learning and leadership roles. This project is informed via intentional intervention strategies, such as exposure to STEM-focused content, interactions with the local area, STEM leaders, scholarship driven mentoring programs, and peer-to-peer opportunities with resource-poor setting populations in their schools. Importantly, Campeones de STEM project will also form the basis for a track 2 cross-institutional, community program to improve enrollment and retention rates in the STEM fields. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Jianxia Zhang
TXEdinburg2231387The University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyExpandQISE:Track 1: Photonic Lattices for Robust All-Optical Quantum Devices Non-Technical Description:
Quantum information science and its related technologies have the potential to generate breakthrough technologies for communication, sensing, and computing. Recent discoveries by the principal investigators of this project demonstrate that quantum interactions in multiphoton systems offer the potential to process large amounts of information with unprecedented speeds. However, successful demonstration of realistic quantum photonic technologies significantly depends on the possibility of developing platforms that are robust against dissipative environments. This research introduces and experimentally characterizes a new paradigm of robust quantum devices based on multiphoton interactions in photonic lattices with engineered dissipative mechanisms. The project develops a highly trained workforce in quantum information science that originates in the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas. This is accomplished by numerous, interdisciplinary education and outreach activities, including a Scholar Academy between the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV), the Louisiana State University (LSU), and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Technical Description:
The multiple scattering and interference interactions that can take place in multiphoton systems offer the potential for breakthrough technologies in Quantum Information Science and Engineering (QISE). However, a major obstacle in developing realistic quantum technologies is the decoherence of any quantum system when exposed to dissipative environments. In this project, a pioneering team in QISE research at UTRGV, LSU, and UCLA introduces and experimentally characterizes a new paradigm of robust quantum photonic devices. This approach exploits the distinctive features of the parity and time-reversal symmetry breaking at exceptional points of non-Hermitian Hamiltonians in multiphoton systems, and provides exquisite control of decoherence through novel multiphoton interactions that have not been accounted for in conventional quantum optics. The innovative idea is to engineer losses to increase the channel capacity of a quantum photonic device. This research takes the dynamics of multiphoton scattering from its fundamental physics to the development of complex quantum devices for information processing. It demonstrates for the first time the potential of non-Hermitian systems for the design of quantum photonic lattices in which nonclassical multiparticle dynamics is preserved. This paradigm is realized by introducing new theoretical and computational tools, the experimental implementation of multiparticle state transport protocols, and their verification through quantum state tomography in photonic lattices. The experimental milestones of this project exploit unique experimental capabilities in the United States, such as sources of entangled multiphoton states and novel detection schemes for the characterization of multiparticle systems. The educational activities of this project create an academic pipeline between UTRGV, LSU, and UCLA in terms of a Scholar Academy for all students participating in the project. Existing undergraduate and graduate-level outreach activities at UTRGV are transformed to create new opportunities for the education of underrepresented minority groups in QISE. This project serves as a nucleus to establish sustainable QISE research and education at UTRGV to contribute to a cultural change in graduate education in the Rio Grande Valley region in South Texas.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Hamidreza Ramezani
TXAustin2232585Saint Edward's UniversityConference: Building an HSI Grantee Community of Inclusive Excellence With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program) the Principal Investigators’(PI) conference will bring together current and potential Principal Investigator teams to engage in activities and conversations to promote effective strategies to improve undergraduate STEM education at Hispanic Serving Institutions and to build and maintain a PI community. Presently there are over 100 institutions throughout the United States involved in National Science Foundation HSI grant awards and this conference will provide the opportunity for PI teams to meet and to share grants’ goals, objectives, best practices, successes as well as challenges. The conference will provide a venue within an established welcoming format for 2.5 days of engagement in Texas in 2023. There will be 3-5 plenary sessions from experts in the field to increase knowledge on successful strategies. Formal and informal networking sessions will be scheduled to increase cooperation and to build a community of researchers. Possible formats for these will involve group sessions and poster presentations.

In collaboration with the TX HSI Consortium, St. Edwards University proposes to support a Principal Investigator (PIs) meeting to provide current NSF PIs the opportunity to convene, learn, share and enhance their work. The conference will benefit from the established momentum of the Texas Hispanic Serving Institutions Consortium conference format to create a community of PIs motivated to make a positive impact on Hispanic STEM education. The evaluation plan will include pre and post-surveys to gauge the effectiveness of each of the sessions. A major output of the conference will be the final report which will be shared with all participants and with agency program directors in order to improve future meetings. This report will include successes as well as challenges gathered from surveys and sessions. A major outcome will be the continued collaboration of Texas HSIs with HSIs across the United States. Over 100 NSF PI teams from public and private, two- and four-year institutions from the US as well as other potential grantees will attend the conference. The conference will expand knowledge on minorities and STEM in the U.S. through the lens of Texas the second most populous state and has the second-highest enrollments of Hispanic students in post-secondary education in the country. Together both groups of STEM educators have the potential to improve STEM pedagogy success with NSF-funded efforts and new knowledge for millions of Hispanic students. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI program will also generate new knowledge on how to increase the recruitment, retention, and graduation rates of students pursuing associate’s or baccalaureate degrees in STEM at HSIs.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Gloria White
TXArlington2244758University of Texas at ArlingtonInteragency Personnel AwardJames Alvarez
WAToppenish1928570Heritage UniversityLinkCulturally Responsive Education in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics With support from the NSF Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) Program, this Track 1 project 'Culturally Responsive Education in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (CRESCENT) ' aims to strengthen the institutional capacity for increasing the enrollment, retention, and graduation of underrepresented minority students (URM). The goal of the project is to provide innovative opportunities for URM students to improve their education, enhance transferable skills, and contribute to the regional and national need for a diverse and competent STEM workforce to address societal challenges of the 21st Century. CRESCENT is built on the longstanding collaboration of Heritage University with K-12 schools, community colleges and research-intensive institutions in rural south-central Washington State for increased URM participation, targeting in particular Hispanic and Native American students in the Yakima Valley. The CRESCENT project activities include innovative strategies for professional development of STEM faculty through the ESCALA program, STEM curriculum enhancement through institutional partnerships, offering experiential learning to students through hands-on research experiences and community outreach, and development of intensive culturally-responsive student support services to increase the number and diversity of students pursuing higher education in STEM disciplines. CRESCENT program activities will empower faculty with innovative and sustained pedagogical strategies for teaching URM students and prepare the next generation of global citizens with a breadth of knowledge and essential life skills to succeed in the rapidly changing milieu of the 21st Century.

The CRESCENT network will explore factors influencing the success of STEM gatekeeper classes and gatekeepers at the most influential and critical educational transitions that are limiting URM student engagement and advancement into STEM careers, testing innovative models transforming these gatekeepers into positive forces. CRESCENT is a capacity building program for faculty development, curriculum enhancement, expanding diversity in educational institutions, and implementing student-centered activities focusing on critical transition of URM students from 1) secondary school to college, 2) between the first and second semester of college, 3) from lower division to upper division coursework, and 4) between undergraduate and graduate institutions in STEM disciplines. CRESCENT will test if applied culturally responsive active learning models for STEM teaching and student support services will improve student performance in STEM disciplines and academic and professional career advancement. The CRESCENT project aims to expand a sustainable collaborative network with regional high schools to increase the pool of URM STEM-prepared first-generation freshmen undergraduate students, increase the number of URM student applications indicating interest in STEM disciplines and increase in declarations of STEM majors during the project period, improve the performance and retention of URM STEM students, and increase the number of URM students who pursue graduate studies in STEM disciplines after completion of their undergraduate degrees. The project outcomes will be shared with other HSIs seeking to improve retention and graduation, resulting in multiplier impacts on STEM URM cohorts across the nation.

The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these goals.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Jessica Black
WAPasco2121883Columbia Basin CollegeImproving First-to-Second Year Retention and Closing Equity Gaps through a STEM Academy This project aims to improve academic outcomes for Hispanic students by creating and piloting a new STEM Academy which will offer a combination of financial, academic, and social supports to an initial cohort of students. Such supports are ultimately expected to result in an increase in the number and diversity of STEM graduates. Columbia Basin College has consistently had high levels of attrition for first year STEM majors, particularly for low-income, first generation, and Hispanic students, with only a little more than half (54%) of these students persisting into their second year. Through the development of the new STEM Academy, this project will increase first-to-second year retention rates in the School of Math, Science, and Engineering, and seek to close the school's retention equity gaps with respect to Hispanic students.

The goals of the STEM Academy project are to: 1) increase participants’ first-to-second year retention by at least 12%, and 2) reduce the retention equity gap by at least 50%. Towards that end, the project team will develop a new, cohort-based STEM Academy of 25-35 students for the pilot year. Students in the Academy will receive supports including direct financial assistance, reserved enrollment in linked courses, and a new dual-language orientation course specifically designed for STEM students. STEM Academy participants will also benefit from intrusive academic advising, partnership with a peer mentor, and direct access to STEM professionals via an industry-led STEM colloquium. These high-impact practices are specifically geared toward increasing students’ sense of belonging and self-efficacy in STEM subjects, which will improve student persistence during the critical transition from the first year to the second year of their postsecondary education. This will result in a larger and more diverse body of students who will be academically prepared to meet the growing needs of the STEM workforce. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Sylvia Alvarez
WAYakima2122560Yakima Valley Community CollegeAspirar, An Integrated Program of Enhanced Advising and First-Year Experiences to Improve STEM Recruitment and Retention of Hispanic Students With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 2 project aims to enhance faculty advising and first-year student experiences, with an emphasis on attracting and retaining Hispanic students in the STEM Pathway programs. Yakima Valley College (YVC), a Hispanic-Serving Institution in Washington state, provides primarily 2-year degrees and certificates focused on workforce development and preparedness for four-year college programs. Although 60% of YVC students identify as Hispanic, this proportion drops by half for students enrolled in STEM core courses. To address this under-representation this proposal will draw upon multiple student support strategies published in the literature. The evidence base for these strategies, predominantly produced by 4-year universities, is applied in novel ways to YVC a rural, 2-year, Hispanic-Serving Institution. The Aspirar program will advance knowledge and understanding of the value of cohort-based training of faculty advisors, accelerating support services for new students, and increasing access to first-year experiences. Community colleges represent a key driver of future enrollment in universities and the Aspirar program is a strategic plan towards achieving a major societal goal of increasing the participation of underrepresented groups in STEM.

To address this enormous disparity in student demographics in STEM courses versus non-STEM courses the Aspirar program will follow two guiding objectives: 1) Increase Hispanic, low-income, and overall Under-Represented Minority (URM) STEM recruitment and retention through expert advising and 2) Increase URM STEM recruitment and retention through first-year experiences for STEM Pathways students. These objectives will be achieved by combining high-impact activities of early interventions for new students, regular one-on-one advising, professional development in culturally responsive practices, and expanding student access to extracurricular experiences. The effectiveness of the Aspirar program will be measured through a research-based design and will be compared with the traditional curriculum and will contribute to the knowledge of best practices in higher education, particularly for 2-year colleges. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Matthew Loeser
WIMilwaukee2122881Mount Mary University, Inc.STEM by Design: Increasing the Competitiveness of the Nation’s Technical Workforce through Institutional Change Using Human-Centered Design This project aims to graduate digitally literate women to increase the competitiveness of the nation's technical workforce. In the United States, representation of women in the computing field has declined over the past thirty years, despite increased use of technology in society. Current data indicate that only 18 percent of computer science majors are female, 8 percent of programmers are women, and 1 to 3 percent in computing careers are Latina and Black women. In science and technology, 14 percent of researchers are women. Because information technology is one of the fastest growing industries and innovative technical solutions impact every sector of the US economy, this project seeks to contribute to closing the gender, ethnicity, and race gap in technology so that US companies will have the necessary workforce to create accessible human-technology interfaces to support advances throughout STEM fields. With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program), Mount Mary University, a women’s HSI in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, will build capacity to prepare students for the technology-driven workforce and seek to demonstrate that a human-centered design approach is effective for institutional transformation. The project will include faculty development, curriculum redesign, undergraduate research, and communication with academic and industry partners. These components will work together to introduce strong technology elements throughout the institution and create a new human-technology interface degree program to attract and empower diverse women for full inclusion in the digital STEM workforce.

Five specific aims will guide this project. First is to increase faculty competencies to integrate contemporary digital technology in courses. Second is to increase student self-efficacy in using technology, coupled with a third aim to educate diverse women who feel included and have a voice in the technology-based workforce. Fourth is to build capacity for human-centered design for institutional change. And fifth to produce research, improvements, and dissemination of best practices for large-scale STEM transformation. The project will be driven by data collected in response to two research questions: (1) does institutional transformation to integrate digital technology literacy increase technology skills and sense of belonging for diverse women? and (2) how does the human-centered design approach in STEM create the buy-in needed for large-scale institutional transformation in digital technology literacy that serves as a model for other institutions? The two underpinning theoretical bases for these questions are multicultural and minority identity theory and institutional theory, respectively. Research findings will be shared through publications, presentations, and a project website. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Jeremy Edison
WIMilwaukee2122903Alverno CollegeHSI Implementation & Evaluation Project: Alverno College STEM Community Impact Program (SCIP) With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 2: IEP aims to increase retention and graduation of STEM majors through focused community engagement activities to enhance STEM identity. As a women’s college serving primarily first-generation, low-income students, more than half women of color, Alverno College will use this project to broaden participation of underrepresented minorities and women in STEM, who lag in STEM degree attainment and STEM workforce participation. Increasing racial/ethnic and gender diversity in STEM is a recognized strategy to expand the STEM workforce.

This project utilizes evidence that women and underserved students in STEM are motivated by directly experiencing the ways that STEM benefits their communities. The project will directly engage 400 students enrolled in STEM courses, including approximately 125 STEM majors, in activities that connect supportive communities to STEM curricular and co-curricular experiences. The project engages all STEM majors in introductory and capstone community-service activities. It extends peer mentoring to all STEM majors and raises the profile of community engagement. The project engages our external community in a cooperative relationship, recognizing the intersection between STEM and students’ social/community identities. The project will leverage the importance of family support to students of color and women in college success, choice of major and career. A professional mentorship network between current STEM students and alumni will capitalize on evidence that professional Latinx/ Hispanic role models influence STEM success. Ongoing faculty development in culturally responsive teaching and a formalized administrative support structure will expand project impact across the college.

Alverno’s project will advance knowledge by investigating the impact of a community engagement program on STEM identity, improving retention and graduation into STEM careers. The program will measure the association between level of engagement in project activities and college retention, and will analyze participant reflections to understand STEM identity development. This work will identify which aspects of the program had the greatest impact on decisions to enter and remain in STEM and to pursue STEM-related careers. It is anticipated that 100% of STEM majors will participate in community engagement activities and that graduates will develop realistic expectations of STEM which is critical in meeting community needs. Alverno’s project will provide a scalable, replicable model for other HSIs to adapt. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Angela Frey