| Our vision for WW is to develop a program that reaches out to a group of students who may be interested in STEM disciplines but need to be convinced of the value and relevance of such work. A range of activities will be used to develop an effective program that engages these students in an exciting and relevant research program designed to increase STEM enrollments at UNH and ECSU. Once fully implemented, our WW model will be disseminated at the national level. The goals and objectives for WW, an outline of our proposed activities designed to support students, and the benchmarks that will be used to measure progress follow. The activities are described in more detail in section 4.
Goal 1: Increase the Number of STEM Majors at UNH and ECSU
Objective 1.1: Recruitment of Entry-level Students in WW at UNH and ECSU
Activities: Recruitment of 2-year students at collaborating community colleges in NH and NC, as well as undeclared students from general science courses at UNH and ECSU and via the WW Website; Design and pilot a two-week Summer Research Institute to introduce students to watershed science, critical thinking, and analytical methods;
Benchmarks: 50% of the WW students will enter STEM Majors.
Objective 1.2: Retention of WW Students in STEM Disciplines at UNH and ECSU
Activities: Design AY WW Seminar to support WW student participation in independent research or education/outreach projects; Develop distance learning methods in support of the AY WW Seminar program.
Benchmarks: 80% of WW students entering STEM majors will graduate in STEM disciplines.
Objective 1.3: Recruitment and Training WW Faculty Mentors
Activities: Solicit faculty from appropriate campuses (providing modest funds); Design Faculty Development Workshops.
Benchmarks: 100% of participating faculty mentors will remain in program over grant period.
Objective 1.4: Mentoring of WW Students by Participating Faculty
Activities: WW AY Seminar; Distance learning methods.
Benchmarks: 90% WW student satisfaction and participation in student team projects.
Objective 1.5: Research training and career preparation of WW students
Activities: The WW Summer Research Institute and AY Seminar; Facilitate student Conference participation (AGU, ESA, etc.) or outreach project.
Benchmarks: 100% WW student participation.
Goal 2: Develop an Effective Model for Recruiting STEM Majors at UNH and ECSU
Objective 2.1: Evaluate the impacts of the SRI and AY WW Seminars on student selection of STEM majors.
Activities: Design assessment tools and methods to document WW student selection of majors; Design assessment tools and methods to determine levels of WW student participation in AY WW Seminars; Incorporate "lessons learned" from assessments into subsequent Summer Research Institute and AY WW Seminars.
Benchmarks: Completion of Assessment by RMC Research Corporation.
Objective 2.2: Modify and improve Summer Research Institute and AY WW Seminars based on evaluations over the first 3 years of grant.
Activities: Document strengths and weaknesses of Summer Research Institute/AY Seminar
approach.
Benchmarks: Successful modifications of Summer Research Institute/AY Seminar.
Goal 3: Disseminate the Model Nationally
Objective 3.1: Formalize and characterize the most effective components of WW model that lead to increased STEM recruitment and enrollment in STEM disciplines.
Activities: Peer-reviewed publications by participating WW faculty (both at UNH, ECSU, and other participating campuses; Develop a Web-based manual of curriculum materials.
Benchmarks: Peer-reviewed publications and the publication of curriculum materials manual.
Objective 3.2: Work closely with WW alumni and participating faculty to disseminate the most successful components of WW nationally.
Activities: Faculty and student participation at national professional meetings (posters and presentations at AGU, ESA, etc.); Faculty workshops at national educational conferences; Create MU-SPIN and Space Grant Web-based dissemination tools.
Benchmarks: 3 Faculty workshops offered in years 3, 4, and 5 (9 workshops in total); Effective MU-SPIN/Space Grant Websites.
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