This project furthers the successful undergraduate scholarship program for low-income, academically talented students in Computer Science, Engineering, and Mathematics (CSEM) at the University of Kentucky (UK) and the Lexington Community College (LCC). The initial CSEM scholarship program enabled many underprivileged students to obtain degrees in the focus areas of computer science, engineering, mathematics, and computer information systems. The past project had a 100% retention rate and clearly demonstrated that many of these students could not have attained their degrees without this support. The primary purpose of this project is to continue to help academically talented students with financial need achieve a high level of success in their educational and career goals. A secondary aim is to improve upon the initial program through recipient participation in a variety of educational and research activities that will foster their interest, expertise, and enthusiasm for the CSEM fields. In addition, the project targets students from underrepresented groups and those with non-traditional backgrounds who might otherwise not be able to pursue careers in CSEM fields.
The project is being overseen and coordinated by the Principal Investigator and an interdisciplinary CSEM Program Advisory Committee comprised of the Co-Investigators and the student support staff of the College of Engineering, the Department of Mathematics, and the mathematics and CIS programs at Lexington Community College. The Advisory Committee meets regularly to evaluate and update program activities as well as to select students into the program.
The project stipend amount is $3125 for full-time students at UK and $1562 for full-time students at LCC with 57 UK and 14 LCC full-time scholarships awarded over the total four years of the project.
