Marie Curie - II Scholars Program

College Of Saint Mary, Omaha NE

Investigators

Abstract

The goal of the Marie Curie Scholars program at the College of Saint Mary (CSM), an all-female undergraduate institution with a high proportion of minority students who are underrepresented in science, is to increase the number of women who not only attain their undergraduate degrees in science, but who go on to pursue careers in science. To achieve this goal, the undergraduate science curriculum immerses the students in active learning environments - including service learning, outreach and research - so that they understand the role of science in the world and their role in science. The program at CSM is uniquely positioned to observe, analyze and document trends and effects of STEM promotion with women and female minorities. The program builds on best practices from the STEM education research community. CSM is committed to the explicit education of key scientific skills and abilities such as the scientific method, research design and proposal writing, scientific literacy and scientific writing. CSM will build a cohort mentality in S-STEM students through early team-building and ongoing mentoring programming within the S-STEM cohort. A high quality academic program for the scholars will be provided that includes a learning community structure to ensure peer-to-peer communication through both formal and informal interactions. The project will be assessed using formative, reflective essays from the S-STEM scholars that will deepen their understanding of the goals of the project as well as provide feedback to the management team.