The University of Michigan CSE Scholars Program recognizes and supports high achieving and high potential students in computer science and computer engineering by creating a community of scholars along the entire undergraduate curriculum. The CSE Scholars Program uses a multi-faceted approach to provide a comprehensive educational environment, both curricular and co-curricular, for students, including underrepresented students, in computer science (CS) and computer engineering (CE). It permits the integration of current student support and academic initiatives at Michigan with new and innovative approaches to provide a comprehensive, exciting and supportive experience for students in CS and CE.
High potential high school and first year undergraduate students, with special attention to underrepresented students, are identified and recruited to CS/CE fields and the CSE Scholars Program at Michigan. A combination of personalized letters, career information and workshops, mentoring, supplemental instruction, tutoring, hands-on computer workshops, and speakers clearly illustrate to students the potential and excitement of a CS/CE concentration and subsequent career. Declared CS/CE majors who have demonstrated high achievement and potential are invited to be members of the CSE Scholars Program. As such, they are formally recognized, eligible to apply for scholarships, attend professional development workshops, and assume leadership roles within the program.
The CSE Scholars Program creates an intellectually exciting, mutually supportive community between prospective CS/CE students, current CS/CE students, faculty and staff within the College of Engineering and the College of LSA, and information technology partners. It provides much needed financial aid, allowing students to concentrate solely on the academic experience. It brings together the skills, experiences and resources of several university offices and departments as well as expertise from the corporate IT world. It provides a well-coordinated infrastructure of recruitment and retention while fostering success and achievement along the entire undergraduate educational pipeline in CS and CE disciplines. In addition, the evaluation and assessment of the CSE Scholars model provides insight and data on combined student support and academic systems that can be applied to other STEM disciplines both at the University of Michigan as well as other universities nationally. The CSE Scholars infrastructure can be adapted to support students in other disciplines, particularly in fields where there are large numbers of underrepresented students. This infrastructure will last far beyond the duration of the NSA CSEMS support. This much broader impact of the CSE Scholars Program not only benefit students at the University of Michigan, but can also impact the disciplines of Computer Science and Computer Engineering itself.
