Stimulated by the national need to increase the numbers of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) graduates, this project is providing 28 tuition scholarships per year in STEM fields over a five year period. These scholarships are being divided equally between freshmen and sophomores each year, while priority is being given to students from socioeconomically disadvantaged groups in order to play an enabling role in diversifying and broadening the nation's STEM and technological workforce.
The project is serving to further engage this cohort of students by building on experiences enabled by other sources of support: (1) STEM based faculty mentoring, program structure, and peer-to-peer support throughout their undergraduate years, (2) The Summer Research Institute, a optional skill building campus based research experience for students in their freshmen/sophomore year, and (3) The Global Laboratory, the availability of a 8-10 week participation at a leading research institution abroad while working with an Oswego faculty member and international collaborators on cutting edge research problems.
The PI and co-PIs are sharing the impact of this developmental scholarship model and the results of the program's assessment and evaluation at various regional and national venues including: SUNY Chief Academic Officers Annual Meeting, the Special Interest Group of Computer Science Education (SIGCSE), the Mathematics Association of America (MAA) and the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR/NCUR).