NSME granted nearly $2.5 million by NSF for scholarships, support services

Earlier this month, the National Science Foundation awarded nearly $2.5 million for scholarships and student support services to California State University, Bakersfield's School of Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Engineering.

"S-STEM: Providing Aid for STEM Success," or PASS, is a six-year grant that aims to improve retention and degree completion of STEM majors by providing scholarships for low-income, academically talented NSME students with unmet financial need. The "last-mile" scholarships will award however much additional help an S-STEM scholar needs after financial aid and other scholarships and grants, up to $15,000 a year.

"When I saw that the program was taking proposals a few years back, I thought this would be a good opportunity to provide that fiscal support to students so they could focus on their academics and not have to worry about taking jobs or taking loans," said Dr. Melissa Danforth, the grant's principal investigator (PI) and a professor in NSME's Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

In addition to the scholarships, the grant also funds support services for S-STEM scholars. Each student in the program will be paired with a faculty mentor based on their major. When possible, S-STEM scholars will take classes as a cohort with others in the program in the same major.

"That hopefully provides the ability for them to build community amongst themselves," Dr. Danforth said. "They're not just having the support of their mentor but having the support of their peers."

Other funded activities like workshops on student success, career preparation, mental health and more will be open to all NSME students, though S-STEM scholars will receive priority registration. The grant also funds a speaker series in which an external STEM professional will come to campus to speak to students once a semester.

"We know our S-STEM scholars aren't the only students who could use some additional support," said Dr. Andrea Medina, co-PI of the grant and NSME's director of grants and outreach. "These activities are a way to extend the benefits of the grant beyond those who are selected for scholarships."

Students pursing degrees in biology, biochemistry, chemistry, computer engineering, computer science, electrical engineering, engineering/engineering sciences, geology, mathematics, and/or physics are eligible for the program. The grant team estimates it will be able to accept between 10 and 18 students a year, depending on the magnitude of students' needs.

S-STEM scholars will be placed in either a lower-division or upper-division cohort based on where they are in their degree program. The cohort they are placed in will determine the length of their support. Once chosen, S-STEM scholars will receive financial support for each year they have an unmet need. Should their financial situation improve during the course of their education, they will still retain their scholar label and their access to activities and mentors.

In their final year of school, scholars will also have access to additional funds up to $1,200 to help pay for other school-related expenses that might arise, such as unpaid library fees or graduation application fees.

"If they're having some struggles to get to that finish line, they'll have access to that funding to get their graduation completed, so that we won't have unpaid fees being the only thing that's holding them up from graduating," Dr. Danforth said.

This was the third time applying for the grant for Dr. Danforth and her team of co-PIs: Dr. Medina, NSME Associate Dean Dr. Karlo Lopez and NSME faculty members Dr. Yize Li and Dr. Jesse Bergkamp.

"We are excited and grateful to have been awarded the S-STEM grant because it provides talented science and mathematics students a path to completing their education," Dr. Lopez said. "These students are our future doctors, dentists, engineers and scientists, and from experience we know that many will return to the valley and serve their community as professionals."

"As a chemistry graduate and later a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at CSUB, I know firsthand the rigor of the classes our STEM students take," Dr. Lopez continued. "Having a scholarship like S-STEM to help cover expenses that get you over the finish line will be a tremendous help because it means students do not have to worry about paying tuition and working long hours away from campus and can instead focus on completing their education."

The grant team recently shared about their project as part of NSME's monthly Teacher-Scholar Lecture Series. One attendee was Dr. Isabel Sumaya, interim associate vice president for CSUB's Office of Grants, Research and Sponsored Programs. She gave kudos to the team for persisting each year and taking NSF reviewers' feedback to make this final submission a success.

"Looking at our NSF grants currently, we have 10 active grants and those equal about $2.9 million," Dr. Sumaya said. "Your grant alone is almost the same amount of the total funding that we have actively for all of our NSF grants, so I wanted to congratulate you all because this is somewhat of a milestone for us."

The work was worth it for the team, and Dr. Danforth knows firsthand what the scholarships will mean to the students who receive them. A CSUB alumna herself, she was able to earn her undergraduate degree without loans thanks to a merit-based scholarship that covered her first four years of school.

"I wanted to kind of pay it forward and give that experience to current students that I had myself as a student," she said. "Working on the grant was about looking for how we can best benefit the students. That was the primary motivation and that's why we kept trying year after year to receive this grant, because we knew it would be very beneficial to the students."

Students in eligible majors who believe they have an unmet financial need can apply for the S-STEM scholarship and program at the link. Students must write a personal statement explaining their area of interest, career aspirations, extracurricular activities, potential challenges they have faced that might have affected their academics and how the financial support will help them achieve their goals. Though the grant is also merit-based, the grant team will use a more holistic approach than just ranking GPA to determine academic success. Students can include an optional letter of recommendation.

The deadline to apply is May 10.

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