Enrollment in STEM—science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—at community colleges across the U.S. comes up short for women and underrepresented students, but at Cleveland State Community College, a new grant will seek to change that.
NASA has awarded $499,689 to the Tennessee Community College Space Grant Consortium, through the Tennessee Space Grant Consortium located at Vanderbilt University, as part of the NSPIRES (NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System) program. The consortium is made up of Cleveland State and four other Tennessee Board of Regents colleges.
According to Marcia O’Connor, director of Institutional Research and Effectiveness, while women represent about 61 percent of the total enrollment in the state’s community colleges, they only account for about 12 percent of the enrollment in engineering technology programs.
Underrepresented groups make up about 16 percent of engineering technology program enrollment.
As part of the Community College Space Grant Consortium, the college plans to recruit more women and underrepresented groups into STEM-related associate’s degree and certificate programs, particularly in the areas of engineering technology and robotics.
“Cleveland State works to promote interest in STEM careers through Robotics camps for young people, and we promote excellence in our college graduates who are highly sought by engineering schools and industry alike,’ said Dr. Denise King, vice-president for Academic Affairs. “We are excited that NASA is committed to adding their support to our goal of increasing the number of students graduating with STEM degrees.”
Dr. King added, “In the past year, 21 percent of participants in the colleges STEM camps were females. We’d like to see that increase, as well.”
The grant will provide $45,000 in scholarships to Cleveland State. This is the first time that a Space Grant scholarship has been awarded to Tennessee community college students.
The grant also will help the school hire a part-time “completion coach” to provide Cleveland State’s Engineering Technology students the support they need to graduate. The Engineering Technology program culminates in an Associate of Applied Science degree. The completion coach will regularly contact the students to help them identify and prioritize their assignments, help them make a plan to be successful and help them identify and overcome obstacles to their success.
Additionally, it will pay for membership in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, as well as for travel to the IEEE SoutheastCon’s robotics competition and the NASA Summer Robotics Institute at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
Other members of the consortium include Pellissippi State Community College, Columbia State Community College, Northeast State Community College and Roane State Community College.
For more information on the grant or the college’s engineering technology offerings, contact John Hannah, the faculty principal investigator for the grant, at 423-473-2432.