The College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS) at California State University-Fullerton (CSUF) is an accredited and federally-designated Hispanic-serving institution. The plan is to establish a scholarship program, the Academic Catalyst for Excellence (ACE), by which ECS hopes to reverse its historical legacy of high student attrition. Over the 5 years of the program, scholarships will be awarded to 54 students. A well established network of student services will support cohorts of ACE scholars majoring in civil, environmental, electrical, mechanical, and computer engineering and computer science. The guiding principle as supported by research into best practices is to provide 4 years of continuous financial support, to the maximum number of incoming freshmen and sophomores. The program targets academically promising but economically disadvantaged students with special emphasis on first-generation college students and those underrepresented in STEM fields. Scholars will be housed at the ACE Center an office in the engineering building devoted exclusively for such purposes. Sustainability beyond the term of NSF funding is built into the model. Dissemination will occur at meetings of organizations such as the American Society of Engineering Education, the National Association of Multicultural Engineering Program Advocates, and Frontiers in Education, in the hope that other institutions may adopt and adapt the model.
