2016 Grant Program FAQ

What is HSI-STEM?

HSI-STEM is the Department of Education’s Hispanic Serving Institution – Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (HSI-STEM) Program. For more information, please visit http://www2.ed.gov/programs/hsiccraa/index.html

What is AIMS²?

This collaborative project is led by the College of Engineering and Computer Science (CECS) at California State University, Northridge (CSUN), in partnership with five community colleges: Glendale Community College (GCC), College of the Canyons (COC), Pierce College, Moorpark College, and LA Mission College (LAMC). It builds on the highly successful and nationally recognized USDE supported AIMS² program in the college that has served approximately 200 students during the past five years. However, challenges remain in improving overall graduation rates for all Hispanic and low income students given their increasing enrollments across the college’s programs. Our proposed community college partners are among the top ten institutions that transferred Hispanic students to the college and represented over 50% of the transfer students in fall 2014. With the new grant, we will increase the numbers of students served to over 500, bridge the achievement gaps, improve transfer success, and increase overall graduation rates for all Hispanic and low-income students in CECS and across CSUN’s STEM programs.

Across the partner institutions, we expect to improve student retention and performance in math courses beginning with the freshman calculus course. The team expects to improve the graduation rates in CECS for all students and eliminate the gap between URM’s and others. Students enrolled in the AIMS² cohorts will continue to have access to special mentoring and advisement by faculty, tutoring and peer mentoring, social activities, field trips and opportunities to take part in undergraduate research projects. The proposed quasi-experimental evaluation design is expected to produce evidence of effectiveness that will document changes in students who participate in the project.[1]  It features a pre-post-test survey research procedure with matched samples (intervention and comparison groups of pre- and post-transfer Hispanic and low-income engineering and computer science students) that will include baseline equivalence on background and experience characteristics. (U.S. Department of Education, 2014, p.10)[2]. The evaluation study will use two validated, widely used survey instruments and institutional (secondary) data to test the outcome measures associated with student participation in the project that will be administered at project entry (pre-test) and exit (post-test) for each cohort and across sites (pre- and post-transfer event). The project’s performance and outcome measures direct the evaluation study’s approach and will document evidence that demonstrates gains associated with participation in the intervention group but not in the comparison group.

[1]   Wiersma, W., & Jurs, S. G. (2009). Research Methods in Education: An Introduction. Boston: Pearson.
[2]   U.S. Department of Education, I. o. E. S., What Works Clearinghouse. (2014). What Works Clearinghouse Procedures and Standards Handbook.

 

What are the goals and objectives of the HSI-STEM grant?

The goals and objectives of the new 2016 grant are:

• Improve the academic achievement of Hispanic and low-income students in engineering and computer science fields.
• Enhance faculty and peer environments for Hispanic and low-income students in engineering and computer science fields.
• Improve the transfer of Hispanic and low-income students in engineering and computer science fields to baccalaureate-granting institutions.
• Improve career preparation of Hispanic and low-income students in engineering and computer science fields.
• Develop research skills of Hispanic and low-income students in engineering and computer science.
• Increase baccalaureate degree completion of Hispanic and low-income students in engineering and computer science fields.

 

What are the proposed annual cohort recruitments?

The table below lists the proposed annual enrollments from CSUN during the grant. The new grant serves incoming students at all levels including First Time Freshmen (FTF) and First Time Transfers (FTT). It includes all the high impact practices from the previous grant (Tutoring, Mentoring, and Undergraduate Research), plus the large college wide initiatives to improve retention and the math preparation of our majors. Both at the community colleges and CSUN there is an increased emphasis on the career preparation and degree completion by the students.

 

What are the activities supported through this project?

Students enrolled in the AIMS² cohorts have access to special mentoring and advisement by faculty, tutoring and peer mentoring, social activities, field trips and opportunities to take part in undergraduate research projects. They are expected to carry a full academic load (a minimum of 30 semester units/year). Results from our previous grant indicate that student contact with faculty mentors on research projects, coupled with participation in cohort group meetings, and informal interaction leads to their academic, social, and career development. With the new grant we are scaling the number of CC partners to include three additional colleges and anticipate serving a much broader student body. New areas of focus are: 1. Improve Peer Mentoring, 2. Career and post-graduate support for cohorts, 3. Outreach to strengthen pipeline – and alignment with grants such as the Career Pathways grant. Each of our partner colleges is a designated HSI institution and more importantly sends a significant portion of transfer students to CECS majors (54 % in fall 2014 or 426 students out of 786 from the top ten transfer institutions to CECS).

 

What are the services supported through this project?

Collectively this collaborative grant proposal will provide a range of services to Hispanic and low-income student as listed in the table below.