Collaborative Research: Building on STEP to Understand STEM Entry and Persistence

We propose harnessing the knowledge generated by NSF Type 1 projects to enrich our understanding of student pathways to a STEM baccalaureate and the impact of different types of inventions on those pathways across diverse students and STEM fields.

Our project combines a rigorous research deign with previously validated survey instruments and administrative data to answer pressing substantive research questions about the pathways students follow into and through STEM fields at baccalaureate colleges.

Among the results of our work will be a data infrastructure suitable for expansion and replication across Type 1 projects beyond those included in our present proposal. Combining our substantive and methodological expertise with state-of-the-art techniques of data collection we will collect data from each of four Type 1 project sites to uncover the mechanisms that underlie the success or failure of Type 1 projects to increase the number of students who enter and complete bachelor’s degrees in STEM fields.