This project is a continuation of a currently successful CSEMS program at ISU. The recipients of the Idaho State CSEMS project will be students majoring in engineering, mathematics, computer software engineering technology, civil engineering technology, and computer science. The project promotes increasing the number of minority students including female students and increasing the retention rate in the supported disciplines. This is accomplished by: a) Improving the screening process by studying the correlation between the student's eligibility for the program and their academic performance, b) involving the Society of Woman Engineers (SWE) Student Club in the College of Engineering to assist in recruiting more female students and by c) using current recipients of CSEMS scholarships as role models in recruiting and retention process.
The strategy of this CSEMS proposal is to capitalize on existing resources to ensure its success. This allows the program to maximize the effect the comparatively modest CSEMS funding available for administration and student infrastructure. This CSEMS project makes use of many of the student support programs already in place at ISU, but is given its own identity.
Intellectual merit: Scholarship holders have internships or participate in workplace experiences, during the school year or summer, with regional industry. These positions typically include wages, and are another means of financial assistance, as well as furthering students' academic careers. The project is significant in that it serves an area of student need, in a state seeing growth in high-technology companies and demand for graduates in CSEMS disciplines.
Broader Impacts: This CSEMS project complements additional university support structures like Upward Bound and Talent Search and serves as one of several tools used to prepare potential scholars. These services are designed to help students adapt to the university environment and succeed, whether the individual is from a culturally isolated minority group, suffers from disabilities ranging from physical handicaps to learning disorders such as dyslexia, or simply comes from an environment that lacks resources.
