Three BCoE faculty awarded S-STEM grant

September 8, 2015

STARKVILLE, Miss. — A National Science Foundation grant will help support 36 Bagley College of Engineering students’ education and development over the next five years.

Funded by NSF’s Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering or Math program, the grant will provide scholarships and mentoring for selected aerospace and industrial engineering majors.

Fellows will receive a $2,500 scholarship for up to eight semesters and spend time networking with industry professionals and peers and receiving academic support. The first recipients will be selected from current Bagley College freshmen, while future recipients will be recruited from high schools and brought into the program.

Directed by Lesley Strawderman, an associate professor in industrial engineering; Jean Mohammadi-Aragh, an assistant research professor and Rani Sullivan, an associate professor in aerospace engineering, the program will prepare students for the workplace and provide educational opportunities while strengthening retention and recruiting in aerospace and industrial engineering.

Strawderman said the scholarship program will build off the success of previous NSF-funded scholarship programs to create a comprehensive mentoring program.

“Students will also be involved in the program as mentors,” Strawderman said. “Upperclassmen who serve as mentors to the scholarship recipients will receive a stipend. Eventually, the upperclassmen scholarship recipients will serve as mentors.”

By creating a pipeline for academic success in aerospace and industrial engineering, Strawderman said she hopes the program will help to address the growing need for science, technology, engineering and mathematics professionals in the United States and, specifically, Mississippi, where a trained workforce can help recruit job-creating industry to the area.

For more information about the scholarship program, contact Lesley Strawderman at strawderman@ise.msstate.edu.

More information about the Bagley College of Engineering can be found at www.bagley.msstate.edu.

By: Emile Creel