This sounds like it brings together a good set of differing institutions and students to help them make connections.  It also addresses bringing underrepresented groups into a pipeline that will build a supportive network which hopefully will follow them into their future. Remote students is definitely part of the future but the pairing of them with onsite students helps to build connections and communication skills.  

STEM CONNECT is an S-STEM collaboration with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), Southeast Community College (SCC) and Western Nebraska Community College (WNCC). Our grant emphasizes mathematics, computer science, computer engineering and software engineering. Those students who receive a scholarship at SCC or WNCC are assured that they have a scholarship waiting for them at UNL as long as they remain in good academic standing and pursue a STEM major. Last summer we were fortunate both that one of our Co-PIs, Dr. Brittany Duncan had an REU funded by the CISE Directorate and that CISE offered supplements to their REUs that enabled REU PIs to invite S-STEM students to participate. As a result, four of our students (Hadley Susie is missing from the video) were able to do research related to programming and flying unmanned vehicles. Two of our students even earned their pilot's license that permit them to fly drones. Two of the four were freshmen benefiting from an early research experience.

Getting students involved in research early in their college experience seems like a great opportunity to recruit and retain them in STEM majors.  With just a couple of years of the project, what types of differences have you noticed when comparing students who are involved in STEM Connect and those who are not but are interested in STEM disciplines?  Do you think access to research as a freshman could possibly help students to persist or even do better in STEM related courses?  Do participating students have to keep a certain gpa to stay in the program.  Will the students be able to participate in research until they complete their degree?  Are there other ways that students have benefitted from participating in this project that were unanticipated or unexpected?  

Interesting project. You mentioned that some students were struggling academically which was exacerbated by Covid. Were these primarily CC transfer students or UNL students? Were study groups and tutors sufficient supports to retain students and increase their GPA or did you provide additional wraparound services?  

What percentage of students are requesting internships vs research experiences? Does the project provide for either option or are you having to secure internship opportunities as the project evolves? Given students' interest in internships will you shift project resources to accommodate? How are you recruiting industry partners to support this component? 

Anna, 

Thanks for your post. Let me first say hello. Back in 2004 while you worked for TIG, you provided very important help as I applied for an NSF Math Science Partnership grant. I greatly appreciate that support.

We have encountered challenges for some of our students with i) 1st year students and ii) students transferring from community college having slightly different problems. All this is anecdotal of course because the "sample size" of our community of scholars is small. (About 40.) Some first year students have difficulty dealing with the first math or computer science course that proves especially challenging. This is leading to some of our students changing to non-STEM majors. Again, these comments are based on a relatively small number of students, but it seems that 1st year students and female students are more likely to change majors. As for the CC transfer students, it seems that the approach to grading is different at our CC partners than our university. E.g., more points assigned to aspects of a course other than high stakes exams, while at the university exams make up a higher percentage of points in a course. This transition has been difficult for some of our transfer students.

The study groups and tutors have made a big difference for some of our students. But there's another issue here. Early in a semester, students are a bit reluctant to accept a tutor's help or to regularly attend a study group. Some think they are too busy. Others may think they don't "need" the help until they do poorly on an exam. We are, of course, trying to build a culture of recognizing mutual benefit from a study group. 

I haven't tried to quantify percentages of students choosing internships or research experiences. In fact, nearly 1/3 of our students are taking summer classes as a way to shorten their college careers and thus the cost of college. That said, I recently met one on one with each of our students and the computer science students almost to a person stress that they want to enter the workforce after graduation instead of going to graduate school. Thus, they place a high value on internships that may provide an advantage when they apply for their first post-graduation position. And, their CS instructors often help them get paid internships so I don't think it is an issue of resources. 

Great project! We have an S-STEM at UNA as well and I have had the privilege of working with some of the scholars in my bioinformatics research. I had a similar experience that the undergraduate research did give them a sense of belonging and attachment to the field, seeing themselves as potential contributors. Do your students present/share their work as part of the SSTEM Program?

Great program.  We are also sold on the early-and-often research experience.  We have found through an earlier S-STEM (2012-2018) as well as a current award (2019-2025) that working with the students through an 8-day pre-college summer experience) and expanded advising helps students develop the agency to seek out research opportunities.  Look forward to seeing the success of your program over the next few years.