The Computer Science and Mathematics for Scientists (CSMS) project is providing scholarships to encourage and enable students who are majoring in mathematical, computer, biological, physical, or geo- science to take computer science or mathematics as their second major.
Intellectual Merit: The increasing use of computational mathematics in science provides a demand for scientists trained in computer science or mathematics. The project has an organized structure from recruitment of potential recipients, through the educational process to placement in employment or graduate education. Students are being recruited via advertising outside and within the university. Students are selected based on financial need, potential for successful completion, and distribution of first majors. Project-specific advising, mentoring, and progress monitoring support them. Students interact with an industry liaison group that brings potential employers into direct contact with scholarship recipients.
Broader Impacts: There is a developing need in society for computer science and mathematics skills across the sciences. The project addresses that need by going beyond the boundaries of a single discipline, promoting the use of computer science and mathematics in the study and application of science. The project also provides specific plans to increase numbers in underrepresented groups in computer science and mathematics. By providing a broad range scientists with computer science and mathematics skills, misconceptions about these disciplines are being diminished, thus encouraging more students to seek computer science and mathematics education on their own accord.
