This project is providing scholarship support to eighteen worthy, but economically challenged incoming undergraduate students in chemistry, biology or physics. To ensure that the students succeed as science majors, the university is offering a comprehensive program of academic and social support in the form of tutoring, extensive faculty mentoring, peer support and the opportunity to participate in internships, research activities, and attend professional conferences. The goal is to develop a model for increasing the number of qualified graduates from underrepresented groups with science degrees and thus increase the pool of science professionals who will pursue careers in science and as professors of chemistry, biology, and physics, and teachers of science K-12.
Students are recruited from the New York metropolitan area and are students who would not normally be able to attend Adelphi for economic reasons. The office of Pre-Professional Advising and Fellowships and the Center for Career Development is providing the students with extensive on going support and information as well as seminars and group and individual meetings in order to help the students fulfill their career goals.
Twenty one economically disadvantaged, academically talented students were successfully supported by our NSF S-STEM grant. Five of the students were physics majors, there was one chemistry major, and fifteen biology majors. Of the five physics majors, three participated in a joint degree program with Columbia University where they spent three years at Adelphi and two years at the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science at Columbia University. Through this program, they receive both a B.S. in Physics from Adelphi University and a B.S. in Engineering from Columbia University. These students are currently in their final year at Columbia. One student graduated after three years and all of the remaining 17 students graduated after four years at Adelphi University. All of the students plan to pursue careers in the sciences. Two of the students in the program went on to attend graduate school in Biology on a full time basis and three others are attending graduate school part time, two are attending medical school, and one is attending dental school. As mentioned previously, three students are in the Engineering program at Columbia University. Four of the students are completing an M.S. in education through the Adelphi STEP program. All of these students plan to teach secondary school; two plan to teach physics, one will teach biology and one is planning to teach chemistry. One student (a Biology major who minored in French) won a Fulbright Scholarship to teach in France and then plans to attend graduate school in biology. Another student is enrolled in a graduate program in Criminal Science specializing in forensic science. All of the other students are currently working while they apply to graduate schools. While attending Adelphi University, eight students conducted independent research and the grant helped to support their attendance at scientific conferences where they presented papers describing their research results. The students also participated in internships and summer research programs.
