This project is awarding at least 20 scholarships to academically talented but financially needy students who are pursuing a physics degree at the University of Arkansas. Recruitment efforts are targeting both entering freshman and community college students who are transferring to the university and seeking baccalaureate degrees. Support structures for participants include mentoring of scholars by faculty, peer-mentoring, a flourishing Society of Physics Students club, a strong student-centered advising program and a research-based introductory physics sequence designed to serve as a cohort-building vehicle. This program will build upon student support structures developed by successful MSP and CSEMS grants to encourage students majoring in physics to persist in the major and become effective members of the workforce. The University of Arkansas serves a large population of students from low socioeconomic status (low-SES) and this project promises to increase diversity in a discipline where historically few students are identified as from a low-SES.
