success with csems
The National Science Foundation established the Computer Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Scholarship (CSEMS) grants to encourage and enable academically talented students who have financial need to enter the high technology workforce. This program was recently renamed the "NSF Scholarship in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM)". The CSEMS program emphasizes the importance of recruiting students to high technology disciplines, mentoring and supporting students through degree completion, and partnering with industry to facilitate student career placement in the high technology workforce. All CSEMS programs involve students in different activities with the intention of fulfilling the stated national need. Our program, which began in 2002, has successfully used community building, undergraduate research, and mentoring to achieve the CSEMS goals. In this paper we elaborate on these successful experiences in the hope that others may apply them to existing CSEMS programs or to spur interest in starting new SSTEM programs. Furthermore, the activities discussed are easily applicable at the university department level.
csems mentoring community undergraduate research peer-mentoring