This project is designed to offer approximately 75 scholarships over the course of five years to talented undergraduates who are in financial need and who are majoring in computer science (CS), computer engineering (CE), or mathematics. These students are being supported through their studies and assisted in their transition to the workforce by making use of communities - both the fostering of a community of peers within these disciplines to support scholarship students through to graduation, and the connection of these students with the community outside the university to support their transition to the workforce.
Intellectual Merit: The university is using the scholarship program to create within the existing university infrastructure a new model for finding, recruiting, supporting, graduating and placing into the workforce a wide variety of students talented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. This model (1) seeks to identify STEM majors who may not have yet self-identified as such, (2) emphasizes to students the connection between undergraduate education and workforce placement, and (3) builds a network of peer support systems among undergraduates. This project is helping students maintain this network after graduation by using online social media (e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn) to create interest groups that connect students to each other and the wider business community. The project is working with the admissions department and with community partners to find talented students with unmet financial needs, with special attention to those from underrepresented demographics, including those who may not have self-identified as STEM majors.
Broader Impacts: Graduating a larger and more diverse workforce in computer science, computer engineering, and mathematics is leading to better problem-solving in these increasingly critical areas of STEM. Further, the university is leveraging the success of the project in graduating and placing students into the workforce to obtain long-term funding commitments from local and regional industry, education, and government partners to maintain the financial support necessary for the continuation of this program. The new paths within the university infrastructure being developed to recruit talented and diverse STEM students and to reduce attrition in these fields through more cohesive and coordinated support are permanently changing the university.
