Southern Illinois University Edwardsville NSF S-STEM Evaluation:

Evaluand has been contracted to analyze and report findings from data collected in the delivery of the Watershed Scholars program, an interdisciplinary, graduate-level program of the STEM Center at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE). Funded by the National Science Foundation’s Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM) program, Watershed Scholars are drawn from SIUE’s departments of Environmental Sciences, Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Civil Engineering, and Geography/GIS, and provided with support to pursue master’s degrees in STEM disciplines with a research focus on sustainable watersheds.

Scholars receive tuition waivers and $10,000 scholarships for each of two years of master’s degree studies, plus research funding and a range of supports designed to increase academic success. While the small population being served by this innovative, interdisciplinary pilot prevents the level of rigor typically expected of efficacy studies, the availability of quality comparison groups and a well-controlled study setting satisfy fundamental requirements sufficient for analysis to assess the promise of efficacy of SIUE’s model. Evaluand’s quantitative analyses will be complemented by qualitative evidence of implementation quality and fidelity, in a concurrent triangulation mixed design.