Insights on Retention of Underrepresented Minority Electrical and Computer Engineering Transfer Students (Experience)

From 2009-2013, Texas A&M University (TAMU) received funding for the Engineering Transfer Scholar (ETS) project under the National Science Foundation Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (NSF S-STEM) program. The goal of ETS was to increase the quantity, quality, and...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAssociation for Engineering Education - Engineering Library Division Papers
Main Authors Merriweather, Samuel Paul, Butler-Purry, Karen L, Walton, Shannon, Kelley, Judy
Format Conference Proceeding
LanguageEnglish
Published Atlanta American Society for Engineering Education-ASEE 23.06.2018
Subjects
Colleges & universities
Community colleges
Community participation
Computer engineering
Computer science
Engineering education
Funding
Partnerships
Scholarships & fellowships
STEM education
Student retention
Students
United States > US
Texas
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Summary:From 2009-2013, Texas A&M University (TAMU) received funding for the Engineering Transfer Scholar (ETS) project under the National Science Foundation Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (NSF S-STEM) program. The goal of ETS was to increase the quantity, quality, and diversity of the engineering workforce in the state, the United States (US), and globally through enabling academically talented and financially needy students to transfer from two-year community colleges or four-year universities to TAMU to obtain baccalaureate degrees in engineering or computer science. The goal was accomplished through scholarship funding and engagement of ETS students in a complementary focused learning community that included academic and social components to improve the students’ educational opportunities and retention. Two focal points of this project were (1) linking and leveraging the Texas A&M University System (TAMUS) Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program’s community college partnerships and (2) complementing the TAMUS LSAMP and TAMU College of Engineering (COE) recruitment and diversity efforts with ETS scholarships and matriculation activities. The targeted transfer institutions and community colleges had high student enrollments of African American and Hispanic American students, two historically underrepresented groups in STEM fields in the US. Twenty-two (22) of the thirty-five (35) ETS participants were underrepresented minority (URM) students. Almost half (17/35) of ETS participants transferred to TAMU as electrical and computer engineering (ECE) (13) or computer science (4) majors. Ultimately, 29 of the 35 (about 83%) ETS participants completed bachelor degrees after transferring to TAMU. This paper discusses activities, successes, and challenges during the project implementation and reflections on important findings, which demonstrated successful retention components for ECE students. Feedback from ETS participants and a comparison with another NSF S-STEM project is given.