NSF Award
1457880
This project will provide scholarship funding for students pursuing bachelor degrees in industrial or mechanical engineering. Three cohorts, a total of 36 scholars, will be served in this five-year project. Students selected will be academically talented mechanical or industrial engineering students with financial need. The scholarships will be complemented by academic support including mentoring, tutoring, and undergraduate research opportunities. The program will help to recruit and retain industrial or mechanical engineering students, and will reduce the graduation time of these students. The program will allow Lamar University to offer scholarships to directly address an area of national concern: maintaining US competitiveness in industry. Scholarships for academically strong engineering students, who may not otherwise be able to afford college, have an impact on the number of engineering graduates prepared to help national, regional, and local companies.<br/><br/>Lamar University is known as one of the most economically and racially diverse universities in the West. More than forty percent of the student population is from groups currently underrepresented in engineering. In the past decade, the number of African-American students has more than doubled and the number of Hispanic students has tripled. The diversity present at Lamar provides an opportunity to broaden the participation of groups currently underrepresented in engineering fields. This program will target students from sophomore to senior years and provide the support needed to help insure degree completion. Support activities will include enhanced academic advising, career advising, academic support through supplemental tutoring, peer monitoring and undergraduate research opportunities. Resources from engineering professional societies will be engaged to help scholars to pass professional exams. Student engagement will be enhanced by the formation of an engineering learning community. The project will address not only the intrinsic difficulties of degree completion when faced with financial instability, but also the difficulties that engineering students experience as they decide upon a career in an engineering discipline. Project results will provide information on the effectiveness of continuous intervention in retaining low-income engineering students and will contribute to the development of the best practices for retaining low income and talented students in engineering.
