Fostering Confidence, Academic Achievement, and Networking to Strengthen the STEM Workforce

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 Lawrence Technological University. A total of 24 scholars pursuing bachelor's degrees in Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Data Science, Mathematics, and Computer Science will receive scholarships averaging $15,000 for up to five years. Scholars will receive faculty mentoring, and the project will build strong scholar cohorts through coordinated course scheduling and advising, a living-learning community, and interdisciplinary programming. Additional activities for scholars include a summer bridge program, storytelling experiences, and undergraduate research experiences. The overall goal of this Track 2 Scholarships in STEM project is to increase STEM degree completion of academically talented, low-income undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. There is a significant national need to grow the STEM workforce and nurture key talent that will ensure economic competitiveness and provide domestic leadership across critical sectors. This project directly speaks to this need by supporting STEM student success, which will strengthen the workforce in artificial intelligence, data science, cybersecurity and other key areas of need. The project will be assessed by an experienced evaluator, who will examine the scholars' success and engagement as well as the impacts of the storytelling experiences, which will be incorporated into the program as a means of strengthening students' communication, building relationships, and fostering community. The data generated will contribute to the knowledge base regarding effective strategies to support talented, low-income students in STEM. This project is funded by NSF's Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics program, which seeks to increase the number of academically talented, low-income 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.