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Using a five-year, $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation, the University is partnering with its regional campuses and Midlands Technical College to increase the number of baccalaureate graduates in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
The S.C. STEPs (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Talent Expansion Program) to STEM project will provide scholarships, summer internships, workshops, and a series of new courses designed to acclimate STEM transfer students to the University and to their degree programs. A primary goal of the program is to increase graduation rates in STEM programs by 10 percent per year over current baselines.
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| Tim Mousseau |
"There are many talented science and mathematics students in South Carolina who don't progress to baccalaureate programs because of financial issues or lack of appropriate advisement," said Tim Mousseau, associate dean for research in the College of Arts and Sciences and principal investigator of S.C. STEPs to STEM. "We hope this program will help some of them to overcome those hurdles."
Fifty students per year will be selected for STEPs to STEM, beginning with the spring 2008 semester. Each cohort of students will attend a summer institute aimed at enhancing their math skills. Students will receive up to $1,000 scholarships for each of their final two years of baccalaureate study and participate in summer internships.
University faculty from the colleges of Arts and Sciences and Engineering and Computing involved with the project will meet with guidance counselors at high schools around the state to recruit students to the program and conduct summer workshop programs for counselors, teachers, and incoming transfer students.
Three new courses will be offered as part of STEPs to STEM. They will be open to the general student population and required for those selected for the program. STEM 101 will be an introduction to STEM fields, team-taught by professors from different disciplines. STEM 201 will be a seminar approach, focusing on specific STEM disciplines such as computer science, physics, mathematics, and chemistry. STEM 301 will offer a history of science and technology.
The National Academy of Sciences reports that the United States is ranked No. 16 among 17 industrialized nations in terms of the proportion of its 24-year-olds who have earned STEM degrees. Thirty percent of college students start out in STEM fields, but less than half complete degrees in those fields. The lowest success rates are among women and minorities.
9/07
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