The SuPporting Economically Disadvantaged Undergraduates in Physics (SPEeD-UP) project is offering scholarships to a minimum of 24 students majoring in physics at Towson University. Scholarships are available to both incoming freshman and to transfer students who are academically superior and have demonstrated financial need. To ensure success of the scholars, they are being linked to effective student support structures that include the following: Science Scholars thematic housing, special introductory physics sections to build cohesiveness among the scholars, social receptions and informal meetings with faculty, field trips to NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, the Maryland Writing Project, an active Society of Physics Students Organization, and academic mentoring by faculty. The SPEeD-UP project is building upon best practices from an existing S-STEM program at Towson University designed for mathematics, computer science and biology students. The physics department has a history of successfully educating female students, minority students, and future secondary school physics teachers; all of these are areas of great need for the physics community.
