Intellectual Merit: In order to increase the number of disadvantaged students from the Cumberland Valley Area Development District and surrounding counties, the project is establishing math and science scholarships. Scholarships are awarded to academically-talented but financially-challenged students recruited from southeastern Kentucky, one of the nation's poorest and most educationally-disenfranchised regions. Approximately 15 scholarships are being awarded over the duration of the funding period. The program includes deliberate activities and support structures to increase matriculation, retention, and graduation rates by creating a collaborative learning community. Participants form cohesive learning cohorts by: being assigned academic advisors and peer mentors; being enrolled in designated sections of key courses; participating in field trips and service-learning opportunities; participating in research and internship opportunities; and being assisted in the career planning and placement process. Program networks established with area high schools and managers in STEM-related businesses function in future efforts to recruit, graduate, and place in employment, area students after the expiration of the grant.
Broader Impact: Seventy-three percent (73%) of students at the college are first generation or come from low income families. The scholarship program is serving these students primarily.
The purpose of this project is to implement what we have called the Union College Cumberland Valley Area Undergraduate Learning Teams (CVAULT) program. Its purpose is to increase the number of financially disadvantaged students from the Cumberland Valley (and surrounding) area of Kentucky who plan to major in science or math. The primary means for achieving this is to financially assist these students with scholarships (up to $10,000) and also to implement activities such as field trips and internships, and support structures such as peer mentors and career planning to help ensure that students graduate and set out on a path to a career in a science or math related area. We have recruited and awarded scholarships to two groups of students. One group entered Union College in the Fall semester of 2011, and the other in the Fall semester of 2012. The first group comprises 7 students and the second, 12 students. So we are now awarding scholarships to a total of 19 students. These scholarships can continue until these students graduate. In addition to scholarships The first group of students has had the opportunity to participate in two field trips. One was to the the Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort Kentucky where students went on the "hard hat" tour for a behind the scenes look at the process of fermentation and distillation. The second was a trip to the Department of Biology at the University of Kentucky where the students: listened to an overview of the Biology Department graduate program visited the lab of Dr. Raymond (pre-mRNA splicing fidelity) visited the lab of Dr. Morris (development and regeneration in the zebra fish retina) visited the lab of Dr. Westneat (behavioral ecology of avian social and reproductive behavior) Listened to a seminar "Molecular Optimization of Biofuel Production from Microalgae" by Dr. Richard Sayre (Los Alamos National Laboratory) We are currently planning two more field trips for both groups of students later this academic year.
