The AMC-NSF Career Scholarships in Engineering and Computer Science

Cleveland State University, Cleveland OH

Investigators

Abstract

Computer Science (31), Engineering - Engineering Technology (58), Engineering - Other (59) The Advanced Manufacturing Center (AMC) at Cleveland State University (CSU) is administering scholarship support to 40 engineering, engineering technology, and computer science students from CSU and three area community colleges. The AMC-NSF Career Scholarships in Engineering and Computer Science expects to graduate 15 community college students with an associate's degree and 25 CSU students with a bachelor's degree in engineering, engineering technology, or computer science. Recruitment efforts are particularly seeking to increase the numbers of women, minorities, and persons with disabilities in the targeted majors above. All scholarship recipients participate in an application-oriented work experience at CSU's Advanced Manufacturing Center (AMC) for 20 hours a week during the academic year and 40 hours during the summer. One of the unique features of the AMC experience is the cross-disciplinary, full-cycle nature of the industrial projects it sponsors. Industrial companies come to the AMC with real problems and faculty, staff, and students work together to create solutions for those problems. Students learn manufacturing and technological engineering from conception of an idea to completion of a product or process. The quality of work produced by the AMC students leads to 100% of AMC students receiving job offers. Several features of this scholarship program stand out. First, by including area community colleges as partners, students who may stop at the associate degree level are encouraged to finish their studies at a four-year institution. Second, the part-time CSU students recruited gain the incentive to enroll full-time, thus improving retention and time-to-graduation rates. Third, the NSF grant of $2,500 results in a financial package of up to $15,400 for transfer students and part-time students with financial need; this is a very high rate of return on the federal investment. Finally, participation in an internship as a requirement of scholarship acceptance is a new practice at CSU, and has the potential to encompass other CSU scholarship programs. Cleveland-area manufacturers are also gaining access to highly qualified graduates with technical and managerial skills learned through the Advanced Manufacturing Center internship.