Las Vegas Scholars: Meeting Educational Talent with Academic Opportunities

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 the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. A total of 21 scholars pursuing Bachelor of Science in Engineering degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering will receive scholarships averaging $14,300 for up to five years. Scholars will receive faculty and peer mentoring, and the project will build strong scholar cohorts through cohort-building activities, a Welcome Meeting and Summer Orientation, family engagement, workshops, tutoring, summer bridge programs, and summer research and internship opportunities. Additional program features for scholars include a dedicated cohort space on campus and cohort scheduling. The overall goal of this Track 2 Scholarships in STEM project is to increase STEM degree completion of academically talented, low-income undergraduate students 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 chip design, power systems design, artificial intelligence, communications, security, and other key areas of need. The project will be assessed by an experienced evaluator who will monitor progress, assess outcomes, and establish key checkpoints to ensure program effectiveness, and 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.