Lexington, KY – The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) has awarded a $1.9 million grant to the University of Kentucky to fund a five-year effort to boost student retention in the STEM fields, science, technology, engineering and math.
UK will use the money to support its “STEMCats” program, a collection of initiatives designed to better acclimate students to the rigors of college-level science and math courses and help them to succeed.
According to a press release on the grant award, fewer than half of all students in the country who attend college with the intent to major in a STEM field actually graduate with a STEM degree, with national STEM matriculation rates at roughly 40 percent. In addition, the matriculation rate for historically underrepresented ethnic groups stands at about 20 percent.
Professor Vincent Cassone, chair of the UK Department of Biology and the STEMCats project director, attributed this in part to inadequate mental and psychological preparation of first-year students for the challenges that will face them in math and science courses on a college campus.
“They have no idea what to expect, and I think it comes as a shock to some of them just how much work is actually involved in passing an introductory-level STEM class. By the time they realize it, they may already be in trouble,” Cassone said in the release.
The five key components of the STEMCats project include: a series of one-week “Fast Track” courses in biology, chemistry, math and physics offered prior to fall admission, or in the case of physics, before the start of the curriculum; an immersive STEMCats living and learning environment housed within a campus residence hall; a new multidisciplinary, inquiry-based research course for freshman students; team-based summer research experiences in the laboratories of faculty members with STEM faculty mentors; and new introductory chemistry and physics courses with an interdisciplinary focus and life-sciences orientation.
UK is partnering with colleagues from Bluegrass Technical and Community College (BCTC) on the project. The university is one of 37 research institutions that were selected by HHMI for the award, from among 170 institutions competing for a share of $60 million in total funding. The five-year awards range from $1.2 million to $2.4 million.
"At the leading edge of the innovation-based economy is the American research university, the faculty who create new knowledge through research and discovery, and the students we teach,” said UK President Eli Capilouto in the release. “The grant support from HHMI ... will bolster our effort — in partnership with BCTC — to improve retention rates in STEM education, to create a talented workforce for Kentucky, and to prepare the next generation of creative scholars."