This project is providing financial, academic, and peer support of high-need STEM majors who, because they desire both to be trained as a professional scientist or mathematician and seek a career in teaching, are traditionally marginalized by the culture of the research university. The project is enabling these talented students to give back to the community, to make a difference, and to serve as a steppingstone for graduate school as appropriate to each individual S-STEM Scholar. A robust assessment and evaluation plan includes longitudinal data that will assess the impact of research experiences and mentorships on a teacher's classroom practices and its subsequent effect on motivating the teacher's students to purse STEM education and careers. The assessment is also establishing the effect of the mentoring experience on graduate students' confidence and success in entering academic positions in higher education.
As a scientist or mathematician, each S-STEM Scholar adds one person to the workforce; as STEM teacher, each S-STEM Scholars can inspire many students to pursue STEM careers. The scholarships are reducing unmet financial need, thereby enabling S-STEM Scholars to concentrate on course-work during the academic year, to pursue strategies to shorten time-to-degree, to have time to engage in meaningful near-peer mentoring activities, and to participate in a variety of professional networking opportunities. The project is devoting equal resources to continuing UCLA students and to students completing their final years after transferring to UCLA from a 2-year school.
