The College of Science and Engineering at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (TAMU-CC), a Hispanic-Serving Institution, with the support of area community colleges who have high enrollments of minority and female students, is providing scholarships to academically talented and financially needy community college students transferring into computer science, engineering, and mathematics majors at TAMU-CC, to allow them to complete a baccalaureate degree. "Expanding the STEM Pool with Transfer Scholarships" (ESP) is recruiting twenty-six college students from regional community colleges with large Hispanic student populations as ESP Scholars. The five-year project is a recruitment tool providing each ESP Scholar up to three years of funding, which may be augmented by other scholarships and financial aid. The project is retaining scholars through a learning-community cohort experience within an existing infrastructure of student services (mentoring, academic advising, research opportunities, career counseling, professional development) augmented by support services tailored for transfer students, such as an orientation course designed to alleviate transfer shock. At least twenty-six graduates with B.S. degrees in computer science, engineering, and mathematics are being produced, many from underrepresented groups, thereby increasing the diversity of the nation's professional workforce in these critical fields. All students are being encouraged to continue to graduate school by leveraging NSF LSAMP and other undergraduate research programs. Some may pursue doctoral degrees and serve as role models for future Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) students.
