9353771 Nekvasil The year-long project, known as Women in Science Excel (Project WISE), is designed to encourage women to continue their science and math education in college. The project will be directed at women entering Stony Brook who show academic promise and a demonstrated aptitude for math, science, or engineering (MSE), and will consist of five components: 1) an orientation that will educate the women about Stony Brook, and particularly its research milieu in the sciences; 2) an innovative two-semester sequence on Becoming a Scientist that will expose them to a range of scientific disciplines, help them develop critical skills, give them hands-on research experience, and address gender-focused considerations that might influence their educational and professional plans; 3) a basic calculus course using an enhanced version of the Harvard Consortium curriculum that will be taught interactively and emphasize a group approach to learning; 4) a multiple-tired mentoring system involving advanced women undergraduates majoring in a science, women graduate students, and women faculty; and 5) informal programs and social activities that will foster collegiality and socialization with women scientists. While the broad goal of Project WISE is to engage participating women in the excitement and challenge of mathematics and science early in their college careers, before they make academic decisions that will shape their subsequent education, the Project has several specific objectives: 1) to motivate the women at the critical juncture between high school and college to continue their mathematics and science education; 2) to help them develop confidence in their ability to learn and perform well in mathematics and other quantitative courses; 3) to promote awareness of the range of educational and career opportunities open to individuals with quantitative and empirical skills; 4) to create a supportive social environment that will encourage continuation; and 5) to create a model program that can be readily "main streamed" at Stony Brook, and replicated or adapted at other centers of higher education. Project WISE is being developed in response to both national and Stoney Brook needs to increase participation by women in MSE education and careers. Few programs exist that target female students specifically and focus on their recruitment and retention. The project concentrates on the period that bridges high school and college, through the first year of college, because this has been identified as the period of "highest risk" in the MSE pipeline, when a high proportion of college-bound students, but especially women, make the decision to discontinue their study of these subjects. ***
