The National Science Foundation has awarded four universities a grant of nearly $2.5 million to increase the number of minorities in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields.
According to the press release, St. Mary’s University – San Antonio, Texas will administer the grant-funded project from the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program.
The goal of the LSAMP program is to assist universities and colleges in diversifying the nation’s workforce by increasing the number of STEM baccalaureate and graduate degrees awarded to Hispanic Americans, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, Native Pacific Islanders, and African Americans.
To implement the grant over the next five years, St. Mary’s will collaborate with two Hispanic-Serving Institutions — Our Lady of the Lake University and the University of the Incarnate Word — as well as an emerging Hispanic-Serving Institution, Trinity University, said co-principal investigator Melissa Karlin, associate professor of environmental science and St. Mary’s director of the Office of Student Research and Inquiry.
“We want to help underrepresented, minority students stay in college, successfully graduate and transition into graduate school or careers in STEM fields,” said Karlin. “We see many students drop from these majors by their second year, and we worked to identify the main factors during a pre-planning grant period. Based on those results, this new program will include intentional mentoring and relationship-building between STEM students, peer coaches, and faculty mentors across the Alliance. That bond among the students and sense of belonging will hopefully increase, and help faculty and mentors to more easily identify issues or struggles as they arise.”
About 400 students majoring in STEM fields will benefit from the grant. Each university will launch a cohort of 20 students annually and support them for their first two years of college, which is when they have identified a drop in retention, Karlin said.
The program will include a joint orientation for each cohort of students and their families from all four institutions, as well as Alliance-wide workshops and programming.
During eight-week summer research sessions, up to six scholars from each institution will have their housing covered and receive a stipend as they undertake research with faculty at any of the four institutions that share their area of interest.
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