Supporting Masters Biotechnology Scholars to Serve Regional STEM Workforce Needs

This project will contribute to the national need for well-educated scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at Mount Marty College. Over its five-year duration, this Track 2 project will fund scholarships to 75 unique full-time students who are pursuing master’s degrees in biotechnology. With an established network of colleges and universities in rural communities, the Dakota Biotechnology Scholars program will: 1) recruit regional students into graduate biotechnology education; 2) provide scholarship funding for low-income graduate biotechnology students to remove financial obstacles to training for careers in biotechnology; 3) implement a robust student support program centered on student engagement, mentoring, and career development; and 4) engage in a thorough evaluation program to determine what support/engagement practices prove to be most effective and why. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. The project includes the creation of a unique, career-focused scholarship program in the Dakota region that supports low-income graduate students in the field of biotechnology, with an emphasis on intensive internships and applications in advanced settings. Scholar activities will build upon existing infrastructure to identify and nurture, within the region’s STEM student pipeline, cohorts of high-ability, low-income students who will transition into future STEM professionals in the biotechnology industry supported by mentoring and training provided in this program, Program attributes which are determined to have the highest impacts will be widely disseminated in peer reviewed journals and presented at local, regional, and national STEM education conferences for the broad benefit of STEM educators throughout the country. This project is funded by NSF’s Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics program, which seeks to increase the number of low-income academically talented students with demonstrated financial need who earn degrees in STEM fields. It also aims to improve the education of future STEM workers, and to generate knowledge about academic success, retention, transfer, graduation, and academic/career pathways of low-income students. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.