Major grant to help top students finish degrees
UW-Parkside receives grant for model science scholars
The University of Wisconsin-Parkside recently received a half million dollar grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to fund the university's Model Science Scholars program. The grant will help top students in five UW-Parkside disciplines finance the completion of their undergraduate degrees.
The five-year grant totaling $515,888 will aid junior and senior students in UW-Parkside's biological sciences, computer science, geosciences, chemistry, and physics programs. Based on financial need, the grant will fund scholarships covering full tuition, on-campus room and board, books, an in-room computer for each student, and support to attend conferences in their discipline. Students also will be paired in a mentor program with a community member working in their field of study.
"The grant will give some of our current, brightest students and some very bright students at other schools who are facing financial need an opportunity to finish their degrees without financial worry," said UW-Parkside Computer Science Professor Stuart Hansen, the grant's principal investigator. "That's what UW-Parkside is about: serving students and helping them succeed."
To be eligible for these scholarships, students must be of junior class standing at the beginning of the award period, have good grades, and be in need of financial assistance.
"The two basic criteria are academic potential and financial need. To be eligible, they have to have maintained a 3.0 grade point average through their first two years of study and they have to be eligible for federal financial aid," Hansen said.
Hansen went on to say that current UW-Parkside students and those attending the two-year University of Wisconsin Colleges and institutions like the College of Lake County in Grayslake, Ill., who transfer to UW-Parkside are eligible for the scholarships. Application materials will be available beginning in October at http://www.uwp.edu/departments/scholarships on the UW-Parkside web site.
The
NSF grant was a cooperative effort with five UW-Parkside departments led by Hansen,
Scott Thomson of biological sciences, Christine Evans of geosciences, chemistry's
Gary Wood, and Jeffrey Schmidt of physics. Scholarships will be given to students
in each discipline.
For
more information about the Model Science Scholars program, call Cynthia Jensen at
262-595-3245 or access cynthia.jensen@uwp.edu via email.
