Lisa Linnenbrink-Garcia
A $1 million National Science Foundation grant will help second- and third-year engineering students with financial needs continue on their paths to graduation.
Attracting talented students into science, technology, engineering and math, the so-called STEM disciplines, does little good if financial strains derail a student’s plans midway to graduation.
The NSF grant to the Michigan State University Colleges of Engineering and Education will help students persist through the financial and academic challenges facing them.
Eligible MSU engineering students will receive $8,000 per year in tuition and targeted support services. Lisa Linnenbrink-Garcia, associate professor of educational psychology, will consider and evaluate how the program supports the psychological processes associated with persistence in engineering.
She is part of a team led by S. Patrick Walton, director of the Engineering CoRe Experience first-year program, that recently created Supporting Excellent Engineers, or SEE, for mid-year engineering students.
“Unfortunately, we lose many talented students each year, students who have the potential to be great engineers, simply due to their lack of funds to pay tuition,” Walton said. “This grant will allow us to help some of these students stay in school and provide support structures that will, among other things, connect them with internship and co-op opportunities, with salaries that will further support their academic progress.”
Mark Urban-Lurain, associate director for Engineering Education Research in the CREATE for STEM Institute, is also on the team.
This story originally appeared on MSU Today.