A five-year $5 million grant from the National Foundation will fund scholarships for low-income students studying for STEM fields.
The Academic Collaboration and Coordination Model to Ensure Student Success in STEM (ACCESS STEM) partnership earned the $5 million Scholarships in STEM (S-STEM) grant to provide scholarships to students at St. Cloud State and four partnering Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (Minnesota State) community colleges.
Related links
“This grant is another opportunity to work together with our Minnesota State partners to make transitions easier for students and increase retention and baccalaureate completion,” said Ashish Vaidya, St. Cloud State interim president. “Giving students a sense of belonging will help them succeed in college and prepare them to meet Minnesota’s STEM workforce demands.”
The NSF awards only about 12,000 grants per year out of more than 42,000 proposals.
The project will recruit and support at least 100 academically high-achieving Pell-eligible students. Forty of whom will receive a four-year scholarship of up to $9,000 per year while attending St. Cloud State and 60 who will receive a two-year scholarship of up to $7,500 while attending an ACCESS community college — Anoka-Ramsey Community College, North Hennepin Community College, St. Cloud Technical & Community College (SCTCC) and Ridgewater College and an additional two year scholarship if they attend St. Cloud State.
The institutions will work with the ACCESS STEM scholars on career pathways exploration and on promoting a sense of belonging in higher education and within STEM fields.
The institutions will also provide academic support services to ACCESS STEM scholars including tutoring and instruction on research methods and help the students find internships and jobs in their fields. ACCESS STEM leaders will also study how best to support first generation students and students from underrepresented groups in their transition to college and how to improve the transfer process.
“This award has come at a pivotal time for our institution,” said Latha Ramakrishnan, interim associate provost for research and dean of Graduate Studies, who led the effort in developing and submitting the grant proposal.
St. Cloud State has worked to expand partnerships with Minnesota State community colleges in effort to create transfer pathways for baccalaureate completion for Minnesota students. Most recently, St. Cloud State signed a partnership with SCTCC to work toward dual admissions at the two institutions.
Ramakrishnan, College of Science and Engineering Interim Dean Adel Ali, Associate Professor Mark Petzold, biology Professor Christopher A. Kvaal, mathematics education Professor Melissa Hanzsek-Brill, Interim Assistant Provost for University College Glenn Davis and mathematics and statistics Professor David Robinson worked together on the grant proposal to earn the grant funding.
College of Science and Engineering
Our College of Science and Engineering includes 30 majors, seven pre-professional programs and 11 graduate programs.
Students study and research in four buildings housing several advanced labs and tutoring facilities.
