The Zoo and Aquarium Sciences (ZAS) Scholars project is awarding scholarships to 15 to 20 academically talented, financially needy students who have completed their first year of studies. The ZAS program combines a rigorous classroom curriculum with extensive cooperative learning experiences and includes a 320-hour internship that takes place the summer after the freshman year. Scholarships are also being provided to newly admitted eligible students for first semester required costs to remove this barrier for student entrance into the program. Of the 70 students admitted into the program over a period of 3 years, 60 have been female. Thus, the ZAS program is increasing the number of underrepresented students in the field of aquarium science. It is also noteworthy that program graduates teach hundreds of citizens that the earth's living resources are a treasure for current and future generations of humankind and that sustaining our living resources provide essential economic, environmental, aesthetic, and cultural benefits to humanity.
