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Abstract Supporting and Understanding Undergraduates' Computing Pathways Through the ProgramName S-STEM Program This poster describes the findings of an NSF S-STEM scholarship program called ProgramName. ProgramName is a collaborative program across three partner institutions: PartnerUniversities. The project is recruiting a target number of 150 students (total) over a 5-year period (50 per partner institution). Our recruitment criteria are based on: (1) Junior-level students (transfer or non-transfer) with 60-89 credits; (2) major in Computer Science (CS), Information Technology (IT), Cybersecurity (Cyber), or Computer Engineering (CpE); and (3) minimum 3.0 Grade Point Average. Students are supported with S-STEM scholarship funding through to their graduation. Upon graduation, these students continue receiving funding through one year of graduate school should they enroll at PartnerUniversities to pursue a computer-related master's degree. Beyond award funding, the primary support service for this project includes offering three pathways for students to pursue - internship, research, and/or entrepreneurship – and conducting an annual symposium for students to share their pathway experiences with their peers, industry partners, and faculty. In addition to the pathway experiences and annual symposium, this project also provides the following student support services and interventions: professional workshops (e.g., LinkedIn presence, resume and interview preparations), industry tours (in-person (2) to what extent is ProgramName successful in retaining and graduating its students?; and (3) to what extent is ProgramName's research activities being carried out and results disseminated as proposed? ProgramName recruited 41 S-STEM eligible students across PartnerUniversities during Year 1 of the grant. This represents 82 percent of the project's annual recruitment goal. Recruitment challenges were primarily due to State policy changes that impacted students' financial eligibility for the ProgramName scholarship. The three partners have spent significant time discussing recruitment strategies for Cohort 2. We surveyed students about program implementation, attendance, and students' satisfaction and perceptions about the value of opportunities such as the orientation and annual showcase. ProgramName offered several hybrid, cross institutional events including the graduate school showcase, "Welcome Back" social, alumni panel, LinkedIn event, and industry panel event. These five virtual events were well attended and most appreciated among the 2021-2022 academic year offerings. 100 percent of students reported being very satisfied with their experiences at the hybrid events.
Secules et al. (Wed,) studied this question.