Howard University is committed to establishing an infrastructure that coordinates STEM education campus-wide with a focus on producing graduates of excellent quality who can assume leadership roles in the engineering and scientific community. Through the NSF Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP), Howard will form a coordinated, cohesive community of STEM scholars, thereby increasing STEM enrollment at all levels with a special emphasis on students of exceptional quality.
Howard University will provide all STEM students with access to a number of coordinated, multidisciplinary activities that will expose the student to the culture, traditions and rewards of scientific and engineering careers through a program called Howard University Science, Engineering and Mathematics Program (HUSEM). The ultimate goal is to retain these students in STEM disciplines, to have them graduate and to adequately prepare them to pursue advanced degrees (particularly the Ph.D.) in STEM fields. All STEM students will have access to HUSEM activities; however, some activities are particularly designed for the high-ability student who will be groomed for direct entry to a Ph. D. program.
The proposed initiative will consist of four activities - the Distinguished Scholars Program; the Undergraduate Research Program; the Resource Retention Center; and the Interdisciplinary New Frontiers in Science and Engineering Modular Course. These programs will be integrated to accomplish the goals.
Intellectual Merit: The activities will increase the production of underrepresented graduates who have a stronger fundamental understanding of mathematics and science, an improved level of undergraduate preparation and the ability to seek new knowledge through research. The objectives of the program and activities are all aimed at addressing these intellectual challenges.
Broader Impacts: The activities will create a STEM culture, which produces students motivated to pursue advanced degrees in STEM and careers in the professoriate. This culture will produce scientists and engineers who have an appreciation for lifelong learning, leadership skills and the ability to work in multicultural, interdisciplinary teams. As a national leader in the on-campus production of African American Ph.D.s in STEM fields and the production of Black undergraduates who go on to earn Ph.D.s in STEM, Howard is uniquely capable of creating these broader impacts.
has provided STEM students with access to a number of coordinated, multidisciplinary activities that has exposed program participants to the culture, traditions, and rewards of scientific and engineering careers. The ultimate goal has been to retain these students in STEM disciplines, to have them graduate, and to adequately prepare them to pursue advanced degrees (particularly the Ph.D.) in STEM fields. This goal is consistent with Howard University’s commitment to producing graduates of excellent quality who can assume leadership roles in the engineering and scientific community both domestically and abroad. The HUSEM program featured three major integrated activities—Distinguished Scholars Summer Program, the Academic Resource Center, and the Undergraduate Research Program. These programs were integrated to accomplish program goals. The Distinguished Scholars Summer Program provided a bridge program for high achieving incoming freshman during the summer. The aim was to get students focused on pursuing advanced degrees in STEM prior to their freshman year. The Academic Resource Center assisted in the coordination of tutoring and academic reinforcement activities in both "gatekeeper" introductory courses and "bottleneck" advanced courses in the STEM curricular. The Undergraduate Research Program provided opportunities for hundreds of STEM students to conduct research on campus and abroad. Some notable outcomes have been: the enhancement of a STEM culture, which produces students that are motivated to pursue advanced degrees in STEM and careers in the professoriate a cultural shift as related to undergraduate research where increased numbers of faculty are interested in having undergraduates in their laboratories and most STEM departments offer undergraduate research courses for credit sustained research partnerships with international universities, which provide opportunities for undergraduates to work with their international counterparts and international faculty (We currently have undergraduate research partnerships with institutions in Ethiopia, Kenya, Senegal, Indonesia, Philippines, Mexico, South Africa, Turkey, Cameroon, and Chile.) The broadest impact of the HUSEM program has been the production of minority scientists and engineers who have an appreciation for lifelong learning, leadership skills, and the ability to work successfully and competently in multicultural, interdisciplinary environments.
