UHCL NSF Scholar Program
Bun Yue
Council of Professor Luncheon
11/8/2011
Introduction
• Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education: supply does not meet demand.
• UHCL received 3 consecutive STEM scholarship grants from National Science Foundation.– PI: Bun Yue– Co-PI: Sharon Hall
Profile
Grant Period Amount # of Scholars
1 2002-2006 $400K 51
2 2006-2011 $477K 56
3 2011-2015 $600K 13
Grant #2
• Scholarship Requirements:– Majoring in Computer Science, Computer
Information Systems, Computer Engineering, Information Technology and Mathematics
– Financial need: FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid).
– Academically capable: GPA >= 3.– US Citizen or Permanent Resident
Grant #2 Statistics
• Amount per semester:– High: $5,000– Low: $1,800– Average: $4,059
• Gender: – Women: 23 (41.1%)– Men: 33 (58.9%):
Grant #2 Statistics
• Majors:– Computer Science (CS): 13 (23.2%)– Computer Information Systems (CIS): 13
(23.2%)– Computer Engineering (CENG): 5 (8.9%)– Mathematics (MATH): 24 (42.9%)– Information Technology: 1 (1.8%)
Grant #2 Statistics
• Ethnicity: – African American: 4 (7.1%)– Hispanic: 16 (28.6%)– Asian: 4 (7.1%)– Caucasian: 32 (57.1%)
Grant #2 Statistics
• Cumulative GPA in the last semester:– High: 3.98– Low: 2.68– Average: 3.52– Median: 3.62
2010: 3 year graduation rate3-Year Graduation Rates
Hispanic
Black FemaleAll
Students
All UHCL Students
57.90% 64.50% 65.31% 65.20%
All SCE Students 66.70% 0% 66.70% 64.10%
All Relevant Majors in SCE (cohort)
10.00% 0% 50.00% 48.60%
UHCL NSF Scholars
85.7% 0% 55.6% 69.0%
Graduation Rate
• Five year graduation rate of STEM students by Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA based on 201,588 students on 326 colleges in 2004:– African American: 18%– Hispanic: 22%– Asian: 42%– Caucasian: 33%
Program Features
• Not just scholarship
• Also activities to enhance success– Career Enhancing Activities– NSF Scholar Organization– Mentoring– Undergraduate research
Sample Activities
• Talks, mock interview, workshop from career and counseling.
• Talks by professionals and researchers.
• Field trip to JSC and companies
• Communications workshops by Dr. Christine Paul
• Motivational workshop
Maintaining eligibility
• GPA
• Full time students at UHCL
• Attendance of mentor meeting and certain number of activities.
Undergraduate Research• 5 joint papers by three scholars with faculty
Dissemination
New grant starting 2011
• Many new initiatives.
Scholarship incentives
• Most scholarship awards are based on:– Financial need or– Academic output (e.g. GPA, SAT scores, etc.),– or both
“Pay kids to learn”
• Dr. Roland G. Fryer, Harvard’s Education: multi-millions experiment.– Time’s cover story 4/8/2010: Should Kids Be
Bribed to Do Well in School?– Pay kids to learn.– Controversial!
Some results• “In New York City, the $1.5 million paid to
8,320 kids for good test scores did not work.”• In Dallas, “paying second-graders to read
books significantly boosted their reading-comprehension scores on standardized tests at the end of the year — and those kids seemed to continue to do better the next year, even after the rewards stopped.” ($2/book)
Why?
• Output based incentives– Do not directly reward effort.
– Effort may not link to result, as
– Output goals may seem unreachable to many
• Input based incentives– Reward effort.
– Effort can be linked to result.
– Small incremental steps to improvement.
.
In scholarship?
• A portion of scholarship tied to effort?– Not aware of anyone trying it in STEM
scholarship.– Less controversial: we are ‘paying’ them
anyway.
Award Guideline
• Output component: GPA, etc.– Class 1: $3,500– Class 2: $3,000– Class 3: $2,500
• Input based component: up to $500.– Participation in & organization of activities.– Undergraduate research
Award Guideline• Research based component:
– Presented at UHCL Student Conference for Research and Creative Arts: $200 ever after. (effort based)
– Accepted for presentation in external conferences: $400 ever after. (mostly effort based)
– Had a paper accepted for publications in refereed conferences or journals: $1,000 ever after.
Research component
• Emphasize activities promoting research.
• More selective in picking faculty mentors.
• Faculty incentives: the grant will support faculty travels to present joint papers with scholars.
Industrial Mentor Luncheon
• Goal: to expand the horizon and connection of the scholars to better prepare them for their future career.
• Format: informal luncheon with industrial partners in a relaxed environment.
• Two scheduled this semester: 11/4 & 11/18.
Feedback
• “Very good opportunity to meet leaders in Information technology and discover how they start their successful career.”
• “Very informative in telling us what to do to impress owners of companies to have a chance to get hired.”
• “It was very interesting, I like to learn new stuff and I also like to see how other people see the business world.”
Industrial Speaker Series
• Goal: Invite successful professionals in various areas to talk about their professions and provide advice for STEM students aspiring for a career in the field.
• Collaboration with UHCL Alumni Association.
Conclusions
• We are experimenting...
• Please help us publicize our program!
Thank you & Questions
December 2010,Galveston:
I told you, effort,effort…
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