This project is providing scholarships to academically qualified women and underrepresented minorities, and seeking to increase female and underrepresented student enrollment in STEM fields of study so that it approaches national levels by the end of the grant period. The college is hiring academic peer mentors to support students in STEM fields thereby enhancing the institution's support structure for all STEM students, which is expected to increase the overall success rate of students in engineering and science programs. To improve the in- and out-of-class environment for females and unrepresented groups in STEM majors, staff members from the institution's Student Affairs office are providing support for students' academic and social integration into the College with a particular emphasis on interpersonal skills, leadership development, and other forms of student engagement. The project's focus on increasing the diversity of science and engineering graduates and its use of proven approaches for improving student retention speak to the intellectual merit of the project's activities. In terms of broader impacts, this project is contributing to an increase in the supply of engineering and science graduates needed for regional manufacturing and technology-based industries, as well as the nation's graduate schools. In addition, the project offers the opportunity to serve as a model not just for other campuses in the Pennsylvania State university system, but also around the nation.
