This S-STEM scholarship program will provide support for first and second year engineering students at Southern Methodist University (SMU). The goal of the "Today's Scholars, Tomorrow's Leaders: Identifying and Developing Engineers as Leaders(IDEAL)" program is to improve the retention of financially needy students during the first two years of their engineering program by increasing their engagement in curricular and extra-curricular programs. This goal is realized through the implementation of four objectives: 1) identifying incoming engineering students with high leadership potential; 2) developing students' leadership skills through mentoring, tutoring, and work experience; 3) building academic excellence; and 4) fostering community building through the engineering residence hall. The IDEAL scholars program will support majors from various SMU School of Engineering departments: Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering, Environmental and Civil Engineering, and Engineering Management, Information, and Systems. IDEAL Students who successfully complete the first two years of an engineering program will be supported in the third and fourth years by scholarships from the SMU Engineering Fellows program.
