The college is awarding 84 scholarships to 48 academically talented, financially needy, full-time students in the A.S. in Engineering, A.S. in Computer Science, and A.S. in Physical and Natural Sciences (SciTE Scholars) Programs. The project goal is to increase the number and success of full-time science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students at the college. Core objectives are to recruit eligible students and achieve an 85 percent rate of advancement by SciTE Scholars.
The project builds on a prior award, which met the core objectives of the project by recruiting qualified students to fill all scholarship spots, achieving a 92 percent advancement rate for the scholarship students, and increasing enrollment of underrepresented groups to nearly 30 percent minority ethnicity and over 26 percent female.
The intellectual merit of the program lies in the combination of elements that research shows contribute to student success such as completing the first two years of college with no loan debt, attending full time, taking summer courses, and reducing the need to work long hours after class. The broader impact is advancing more STEM graduates to four-year institutions, including an increased number of traditionally underrepresented student groups. Employers benefit from a more qualified workforce and society from increased competitiveness and productivity of the American workforce in STEM fields.
