2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Increasing Success for S-STEM Scholars at Small, Private, Rural Universities

Presented at NSF Grantees Poster Session I

This paper details the unique background, successes, and opportunities for improvement in the S-STEM program at Ohio Northern University (ONU) funded by NSF grant# 2221138 through the Directorate for STEM Education/Division of Undergraduate Education (EDU/DUE). In the College of Engineering (COE), low-income students have lower persistence and graduation rates than the rest of the college. At the time of proposal submission, one-year retention was 83% and 88% for potential Scholars and total COE population, respectively. Furthermore, 6-year graduation rate was at 64% and 79% for potential Scholars and the total COE population, respectively, for students entering in 2015. As the program enters its third year, the one-year retention rate of the scholars is 90% with 80% on track to graduate in 4 years. This represents 10 scholars with one switching majors but still at ONU after one year, and one switching to a University closer to home after two years.

The goals of the project are to address the major issues cited by potential scholars who left the program prior to the grant being awarded, namely, financial, personal, or academic issues. Specifically, the program seeks to ease the financial burden through scholarships, reduce personal problems through fostering a sense of belonging, and address academic issues through workshops to increase self-efficacy. ONU's COE’s mission to engage students through personal relationships and remarkable opportunities, has led to the better-than-average rates of retention and graduation in this pool of students compared to the national trends. This paper seeks to further explore what makes ONU and its S-STEM program unique, what the successes have been, and the opportunities for improvement as the mid-point of the grant is reached.

With the third cohort starting this past August there are two years of data showing positive trends. The slightly improved retention numbers, already mentioned, and the results of scholar surveys and interviews support this. Scholars generally enjoy the workshops (mental health, forming habits for success, strengths based approaches, and understanding stakeholders in engineering), while requesting topics more relevant to them, such as study skills and habits, which will be addressed in Spring 2026. The mentoring aspects of the program displayed both successes and room for improvement. Clearer communication on expectations for scholars, peer mentors, and faculty mentors is being implemented. Additionally, this year marks the first time scholars will serve as mentors for the newer cohorts. The paper will go into greater detail on these items, including data from the external evaluator and updates on how improvements during the 2025-2026 school year are being received. This paper will likely be of interest to attendees who have or aspire to have an S-STEM project.

Authors

Dr. Lawrence Funke Ohio Northern University [biography]

Dr. Funke received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame in 2017. He is currently an Associate Professor at Ohio Northern University.
Dr. Sarah E Zappe The Pennsylvania State University [biography]

Dr. Sarah Zappe is Director of the Leonhard Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Education and Assistant Dean of Teaching and Learning at Penn State. She holds a doctoral degree in educational psychology emphasizing applied measurement.
Dr. Stephany Coffman-Wolph Ohio Northern University [biography]

Dr. Stephany Coffman-Wolph is an Assistant Professor at Ohio Northern University in the Department of Electrical, Computer Engineering, and Computer Science (ECCS). Previously, she worked at The University of Texas at Austin and West Virginia University Institute of Technology (WVU Tech). She is actively involved in community outreach with a goal of increasing the number of women in STEM and creating effective methods for introducing young children to CS concepts and topics. Dr. Coffman-Wolph’s research interests include: Artificial Intelligence, Fuzzy Logic, Software Engineering, STEM Education, and Diversity and Inclusion within STEM.
Dr. Seyed Mohammad Seyed Ardakani PE Ohio Northern University [biography]

Dr. Ardakani is an Associate Professor of Civil Engineering at Ohio Northern University. He has previously served as a Project Engineer at Englekirk Structural Engineers and a Lecturer at South Dakota State University. He obtained his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of Nevada, Reno. His research interests include engineering education, seismic performance and design of reinforced concrete structures, and computational modeling of structures. He received the 2020-21 Professor Henry Horldt Outstanding Teaching Award.
Dr. John-David S Yoder Ohio Northern University [biography]

John-David Yoder received his degrees (B.S., M.S, and Ph.D.) in mechanical engineering from the University of Notre Dame. He is Professor and Chair of the mechanical engineering at Ohio Northern University, Ada, OH. He has previously served as Proposal Engineer and Proposal Engineering Supervisor at Grob System, Inc. and Software Engineer at Shaum Manufacturing, Inc. He has held a number of leadership and advisory positions in various entrepreneurial ventures. He is currently a KEEN (Kern Entrepreneurial Education Network) Fellow, and has served as a Faculty Fellow at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA and an Invited Professor at INRIA Rhone-Alpes, Monbonnot, France. Research interests include computer vision, mobile robotics, intelligent vehicles, entrepreneurship, and education.

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 21, 2026, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 24, 2026

« View session