作者：辛西娅·休伯特

2023年10月18日

一项新的300万美元联邦拨款将允许博彩平台进行关键投资，以提高工程专业学生的毕业率，特别是那些来自拉丁裔背景的学生。

该项目的首席研究员Lynn Tashiro教授说：“TECH4Equity将是技术、咨询和辅导人员、具有公平意识的教师和学生领袖之间的独特合作伙伴关系。” “课程和项目将从西班牙裔和低收入学生需求的角度来开发。”

TECH4Equity赠款将在未来五年内发放，将资助课程重新设计、技术升级等，以帮助学生更好地理解关键概念，并为获得工程学位创造更清晰的途径。

The grant is the fourth that 囊状态 has received from the U.S. Department of Education’s Developing Hispanic Serving Institutions program since 2015. The University is a federally designated Hispanic-Serving机构, with more than 30% of its students identifying as Latinx.

Tashiro, director of 囊状态’s 教与学中心, and Praveen Meduri, an associate professor of 电气与电子工程, will oversee the TECH4Equity project.

利用新拨款，理大将重新设计15门通识教育课程和5门工程学课程，这些课程对取得工程学学位至关重要。 田代说，重新设计课程是为了提高通过率，消除公平差距。 通用电气课程适用于包括工程在内的所有专业。

例如，改革将包括用更具互动性的教学方法取代传统的讲座。

田代说：“TECH4Equity将利用技术和人工智能为学生创造更灵活的课程选择和学术支持资源。” “开发在线和混合课程以及辅导服务是该计划的一部分。”

Meduri said that program leaders are “taking a look at a sequence of courses that have high fail rates for Hispanic students and asking, 'Why is this happening, and how can we fix this? 我们怎样才能帮助学生顺利完成这些课程呢？' ”

他强调，学术标准不会妥协。 “All of our students will have to meet the standards. It’s just a matter of changing some of the ways we take them down the academic path.”

The grant funding also will pay for new laptops and Wi-Fi hotspots in the 大学援助移民计划 (CAMP), which serves students from seasonal farming backgrounds.

The improvements will help close the “digital divide” that works against students who are interested in studying Engineering but have limited access to the latest technology, Meduri said.

此外，工程学院将接受新的、具有文化敏感性的在线教学工具的培训。

A bilingual Herky chatbot, which will offer support and services to students who are CAMP members, is a long-term project in partnership with 学生事务 and IRT.

The innovations, which will benefit thousands of scholars in the coming years, will “meet students where they are,” and support them in their journeys through college, said Mariappan “Jawa” Jawaharlal, interim associate vice president for 囊状态’s Offices of 研究, Innovation, and Economic Development.

“We want to bring students to our campus and show them that we are not just another engineering program,” he said. “We want to do everything we can to make sure they succeed.”