Phase One Research Results from a Project on Vertical Transfer Students in Engineering and Engineering Technology

This paper reports on the first phase of research on a scholarship program VTAB (Vertical Transfers’ Access to the Baccalaureate) funded by a five-year grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) that focuses on students who transfer at the 3rd year level from 2-year schools to the engineering and engineering technology BS programs at our university. The goals of the program are: (i) to expand and diversify the engineering/technology workforce of the future, (ii) to develop linkages and articulations with 2-year schools and their S-STEM programs, (iii) to recruit, retain, and graduate 78 low-income students, and place them in industry or graduate schools, (iv) to generate knowledge about the program elements that can help other universities, and (v) to serve as a model for other universities to provide vertical transfer students access to the baccalaureate degree