Linking Community College Students to Engineering

University Of South Alabama, Mobile AL

Investigators

Abstract

This project proposes to support transfer students from community colleges to the University of South Alabama. Their plan will stimulate enrollment, enhance retention in engineering programs at the University, and increase the technical work force in the Mobile area. The targeted community colleges have large minority populations and many first generation students. The intellectual merit of this project addresses financial barriers of minority community college students by providing fourteen new scholarships each year to students from area community colleges. The students will be placed in learning communities and provided with faculty and student mentors and academic support systems. Broader impact is anticipated in that one half of the scholarships will be targeted for underrepresented minority students, assuring an increase in the number of ethnic minorities and females entering the STEM workforce. Participants will interact with K-12 students, broadening the impact of the program.