Intellectual Merit. The project provides 32 scholarships per year to academically talented, financially disadvantaged lower-division computer science, engineering, and mathematics (CSEM) students, especially women and underrepresented minorities. These scholarships, together with a well-established infrastructure and student-centered programs, exploiting a community-of mentors, enable selected students to maintain full-time enrollment and achieve degree completion. The project is administered through the university's SUMS Institute (Strengthening Understanding of Mathematics and Science). The function of SUMS is to: (1) recruit and select program students from across the state; (2) provide activities that increase retention, support student academic/professional development through degree completion, and prepare students for graduate school and future employment.
Broader Impacts. The program helps ensure a successful transition to upper-division work, research, graduate school, and the STEM workforce. Building on prior and current projects, program activities are designed to transition lower-division students from S-STEM funds to cutting-edge student-funded research projects. Toward this end, 10 NSF-LSAMP-WAESO and 5 NASA Space Grant slots are available for mentor-guided undergraduate research projects. Intel, Microchip, and NASA provide technical mentors. Prior CSEMS programs average over 87% retention with over 35% of recent upper-division students going on to graduate school full-time -- nearly double the national rate. The project is expanding and enhancing the continuum of services available to students of diverse gender, ethnic, social, and economic backgrounds, clearly supporting the university's commitment to provide a high quality education to all students. It also introduces students to exciting new research developments spanning all CSEM disciplines and encourages them to earn a technical graduate degree.
