Mark Wong - US grants

Contra Costa College (CCC) is a two-year Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) located in San Pablo 20 miles north of Oakland/San Francisco and 50 miles north of Silicon Valley, offering associate degree programs and certificate programs in a variety of STEM fields. This five-year project will recruit high ability, low-income students in biological science, computer sciences, engineering, mathematics, and the physical sciences, to receive mentoring and academic support so as to reduce time to associate degree completion. Four cohorts of 30 students each will participate. Research opportunities and internships for students will be coordinated by the Center for Science at Contra Costa College, which engages in collaborative partnerships with many regional National laboratories and local industries.

Peer Lead Team Learning (PLTL) will be utilized to deepen conceptual knowledge and understanding. A learning community will be built through participation in the Center for Science, which models the approach of Uri Treisman for student support. Experts from the Lawrence Hall of Science will oversee the research aspects of this project. Together with members of the principal investigator (PI) team, they will study whether or not reducing students' financial burden helps them to complete their academic goals, whether or not summer bridge activities improve the STEM pipeline, and how the PLTL model helps student learning and increases student success. Broader impacts will be gained via workforce development opportunities for students as well as promoting transfer to 4-year institutions. Metrics for evaluating the project's implementation activities will include short-term goals for scholarship recipients (e.g. 85% year-to-year retention), mid-term goals for transferring to a baccalaureate institution (80% of scholars transfer within three years), and long-term graduation goals for the transfer students (90% attaining a baccalaureate degree within six years).