2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Our study is part of the first National Science Foundation (NSF) Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM) Track 3 grant funded in our state. We aim to recruit and retain promising undergraduate engineering and computer science (ECS) students with demonstrated financial need through a consortium of three institutions, a large research-focused university and two regional community colleges. Our students enroll each semester in a one-credit course while receiving scholarship funding. They work alongside a lead faculty member who guides them through scientific inquiry of innovative solutions to energy design challenges and other professional development.

We anticipate awarding a total of 82 scholarships in the 2025-2026 academic year to 43 students at the university and 39 students at the two community colleges. The instructional team has continued to refine the professional development course offered across the consortium institutions, with an emphasis on career exploration, academic success, and durable skills building. Students developed and presented research posters as part of the course based on literature reviews to showcase their work at two undergraduate research-centered university events.

We research best practices for supporting students’ identity development as engineers and computer scientists and have been tracking their progress over the last three years as part of this work. Initial results demonstrate that students’ identity as engineers and computer scientists increases while they participate in our program. We have also asked students over the last two years to forecast how much they think they will identify as an engineer or computer scientist. Initial results indicate a direct relationship between the length of time students participate in the program and the higher likelihood they will identify as an engineer or computer scientist in the future.

We have also aimed to improve students’ ability to engage in scientific argumentation as part of the course. Mastering the skill of argumentation is essential for communicating effectively in engineering and computer science, which leads to career advancement. Our work demonstrates that a minimal intervention, in terms of time resources, can be integrated within existing engineering and computer science contexts and have an impact on student’s ability to engage in scientific argumentation. Our framework shows promise of making replication and implementation in other engineering and computer science courses.