577 research outputs found
Educational achievement of Asian-American students: A generational perspective.
No full textThis study investigated how family-, individual-, and school-related factors together influence the learning of Asian American students during the first two years of high school, in comparison to that of Caucasian students. The author employed a generational perspective and defined first-generation Asian American students as those who were born in Asia and late emigrated to the United States with their parents; the second generation as those who were born in the United States, but have one or both Asian-born parents; and the third generation as those who were American-born, as were both of their parents. Using the first two waves of the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988, the first two generations of Asian American students were found to be advantaged over their Caucasian counterparts in terms of parents' educational background and expectations, and students' own learning attitudes and behaviors. The learning of these two generations is determined largely by their high educational goals, by the extraordinary effort expended in pursuit of these goals, and by good use of school academic resources. Third-generation Asian American students are similar to Caucasians in terms of family background and learning characteristics. For these groups, academic ability is a major factor determining their educational expectations, engagement, and their choice of courses. School curricular structure also exerts a great influence on their course-taking behaviors. A constrained, academically-focused curriculum, coupled with high graduation requirements, can "push" Caucasian and third-generation Asian American students to take more academic courses. The author offered several alternative explanations for these differential learning attitudes and behaviors across the three generation of Asian American students, and for the relationships of these attributes to the learning outcomes. These include differences in Asian and American cultural beliefs about the relative contribution of ability and effort to learning; recent selective immigration of Asians based on motivation, ability, or educational levels; and differential perceptions for the three generations of Asian American students of their status and mobility opportunities in the United States.PhDEducationUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/104928/1/9624587.pdfDescription of 9624587.pdf : Restricted to UM users only
STEM attrition among high-performing college students in the United States: scope and potential causes
No full textPostsecondary education plays a critical role in building a strong workforce in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. The U.S. postsecondary education system, however, frequently loses many potential STEM graduates through attrition. An increasing portion of STEM leavers are top performers who might have made valuable additions to the STEM workforce had they stayed in STEM fields. Using data from the 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09), this study tracks a cohort of beginning bachelor’s degree students over 6 years, providing a close look at STEM attrition among a group of high-performing college students. Capitalizing on the transcript data collected through BPS:04/09, this study also examines STEM coursetaking, detailing how participation and performance in undergraduate STEM coursework are associated with students’ departure from STEM fields. The study finds that about a quarter of high-performing beginning bachelor’s degree students entered STEM fields (i.e., declared a STEM major) during their enrollment between 2003 and 2009, and a third of these entrants had left STEM fields by spring 2009. The results of multinomial probit regression analysis indicate that students’ intensity of STEM coursework in the first year and their performance in STEM courses may have played an important role in their decisions to switch majors out of STEM fieldsPeer Reviewe
Who Participates in the Skilled Technical Workforce After College and What Are Their Educational Pathways?
No full textThe skilled technical workforce (STW) comprises workers in occupations that require significant science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) skills but not a bachelor’s degree for entry. The United States had over 17 million STW workers in 2017, and is expected to be short about 3.4 million workers who are qualified for the available STW positions by 2022. Despite the important contribution of the STW to the U.S. economy, the policy discourse on the STEM workforce has largely focused on workers with bachelor’s or graduate degrees, overlooking those without a 4-year degree. Consequently, knowledge about the STW is limited. This paper draws on a recently available national data source to provide a close look at STW workers through the lens of U.S. undergraduates who joined the STW after college. Multivariate results indicate that students who held STW jobs after college fared better than those who held nontechnical jobs on a range of employment outcomes, including salary, access to workforce benefits, alignment between college majors and intended careers, and job satisfaction. Multivariate analyses also confirmed that graduating from a less-than-4-year institution, earning a subbaccalaureate credential, and majoring in STEM, healthcare, and such technical fields as manufacturing, construction, repair, and transportation are common paths to STW careers. Despite the benefits of STW employment, however, relatively few students pursued STW jobs after college. Significantly fewer female than male students and fewer Black than White students pursued STW jobs, even after controlling for such factors as major field, type of last institution, STEM credits, and educational attainment. However, post-college STW participation did not differ between Hispanic and White students or vary by students’ family income or their parents’ education attainment
Effect of vegetation restoration on soil erosion control and soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics: A meta-analysis
No full textFirst-Generation Students in Postsecondary Education: A Look at Their College Transcripts
No full textRecent research has generated a large body of knowledge about students who are the first members of their families to attend college, referred as “first-generation students”. The results show that such students are at a distinct disadvantage in gaining access to postsecondary education. Even those who overcome the barriers and do enroll have difficulty remaining enrolled and attaining a degree. What has not been well studied, however, are the course-taking experiences of first-generation students after entering college. What do first-generation students study in college? How well do they do in their coursework? Is their coursework different from that of their peers whose parents went to college? This report explores these questions by using data from the Postsecondary Education Transcript Study (PETS) of the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) to examine the majors and course-taking patterns of first-generation students and to compare their postsecondary experiences and outcomes with those of students whose parents went to college.U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistic
STEM attrition among high-performing college students: Scope and potential causes
No full textPostsecondary education plays a critical role in building a strong workforce in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. The U.S. postsecondary education system, however, frequently loses many potential STEM graduates through attrition. An increasing portion of STEM leavers are top performers who might have made valuable additions to the STEM workforce had they stayed in STEM fields. Using data from the 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09), this study tracks a cohort of beginning bachelor’s degree students over 6 years, providing a close look at STEM attrition among a group of high-performing college students. Capitalizing on the transcript data collected through BPS:04/09, this study also examines STEM coursetaking, detailing how participation and performance in undergraduate STEM coursework are associated with students’ departure from STEM fields. The study finds that about a quarter of high-performing beginning bachelor’s degree students entered STEM fields (i.e., declared a STEM major) during their enrollment between 2003 and 2009, and a third of these entrants had left STEM fields by spring 2009. The results of multinomial probit regression analysis indicate that students’ intensity of STEM coursework in the first year and their performance in STEM courses may have played an important role in their decisions to switch majors out of STEM fields
Derivation of clear-sky longwave spectral flux solely from hyperspectral observations: a case study with AIRS observations
No full textInfluences of Surface Spectral Emissivity and Cloud Longwave Scattering on Climate Simulations
No full textLongwave (LW) radiation plays a critical role in the Earth’s climate system. It carries energy from the Earth to space, thereby balancing the global-averaged net solar radiation at the top of the atmosphere. It also redistributes energy within the atmosphere, and between the atmosphere and the surface. Due to its importance, a correct and faithful representation of the LW radiation processes in climate models is crucial for understanding the climate system and projecting future climate. Because comprehensive LW radiation calculations are computationally expensive, many approximations are made to accelerate these calculations. Two common approximations are blackbody surface and non-scattering clouds. At least twenty years ago, researchers argued the validity of these approximations, but these arguments have received relatively little attention until recently.
This dissertation, along with other recent studies, investigates the impact of surface spectral emissivity and ice cloud LW scattering on simulated climate. Specifically, this dissertation implements surface spectral emissivity, a two/four-stream LW radiative transfer solver, and a state-of-the-art ice cloud LW optical scheme into the Community Earth System Model version 1.1.1 (CESM1.1.1) and the DoE Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM). Using the modified version of the CESM1.1.1, this dissertation investigates:
(1) The surface emissivity effect over the Sahara and Sahel. The surface emissivity in these regions can be as low as 0.6-0.7 over the infrared window band while close to unity in other bands, but such spectral dependence has been ignored in climate models. The inclusion of realistic surface emissivity over the Sahara and Sahel, compared to the blackbody surface, increases the surface air temperature over these regions and produces more convective rainfall, especially in the Sahara. The precipitation south of the Sahel is also increased, indicating that the changes of surface emissivity can influence the local climate and beyond.
(2) The ice cloud LW scattering effect on polar climate. Cloud LW scattering is usually neglected in climate models. The traditional rationale is that this scattering is negligible compared to strong LW absorption by clouds and greenhouse gases. This rationale, however, is not valid in the polar regions, in which the atmospheric absorption is weak due to the small amount of water vapor, implying that cloud LW scattering is not negligible anymore. Using CESM with a slab-ocean model, the scattering effect increases the Arctic (Antarctic) winter surface temperature by around 1.4K (1.4K). Interestingly, this effect becomes much weaker, only 0.1K (0.4K), when the sea surface temperatures and sea ice are prescribed. These results highlight the importance of the cloud LW scattering effect in the polar regions and the importance of surface-atmosphere coupling when this effect is considered.
(3) The combined effect of surface emissivity and ice cloud LW scattering on polar climate. When a non-blackbody surface is combined with scattering clouds, multiple scattering between the surface and clouds can occur and retain additional energy in the Earth. The CESM simulations show that these two effects are linearly additive in the polar regions.
This dissertation also shows that the modified E3SM, compared to the standard E3SM, reduces the prominent surface warm bias during the Arctic winter by half, mainly because of the new ice cloud optical scheme. The influences on other fields are minimal.
Altogether, this dissertation demonstrates the importance of surface spectral emissivity and cloud LW scattering on the simulated climate, particularly over the polar regions.PhDClimate and Space Sciences and EngineeringUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/155322/1/yihsuan_1.pdfDescription of yihsuan_1.pdf : Restricted to UM users only
Profile of Very Low And Low-Income Undergraduates in 2015–16
No full textThe primary objectives behind postsecondary financial aid programs are to increase access, improve affordability, and promote equal opportunity and college success for postsecondary students (Gillen 2010). Low-income students are frequently a topic of higher education research precisely because they have the greatest need with respect to all three of these objectives (Bellin 2015; Tilak 2010). This report presents a profile of low-income undergraduates in 2015–16, and examines policies and programs designed to assist these students.U.S Department of Education, National Center for Education StatisticsAmerican Institutes for ResearchRTI Internationa
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