This project provides educational opportunities to 30 academically talented students with demonstrated financial need through scholarships that promote full-time enrollment and degree achievement at the baccalaureate level. The program uniquely partners with two two-year colleges in the area (one a HBCU) to create a recruitment pipeline for qualifying computer science, mathematics, and engineering students that are a) seeking to attract additional students into these fields, and b) make qualifying students at the two-year institutions aware of CSEMS support for completing a four-year baccalaureate degree at UAB in one of the three disciplines. The intellectual merit of this program is the unique partnership between UAB and two two-year colleges to attract additional qualifying students into the three disciplines, and in the quality of the education offered by the three programs. The broader impact of this program is the ability of the program to attract a cohort of underrepresented students (minorities and women, due to the demographics in and around Birmingham and also the design of the program) into the three disciplines, and to provide them with financial support and an infrastructure that ensures their success in earning a baccalaureate degree.
