SCSU
A Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU) math professor thought he had a tempting offer for city math and science students: They could come to his college for free, and even pick up a free laptop.
He braced for a flood of responses. They never came.
The professor, Joseph E. Fields, sent a postcard to New Haven and Bridgeport high schools with pictures like the above fractal, to tell them about the offer, financed by by a $600,000 grant from the National Science Foundation.
He got only a handful of responses of potential interest in return.
The money is sufficient for 26 outstanding high school students wishing to pursue mathematics, computer science, biology, chemistry, physics or earth science. The NSF awarded about 50 such grants around the country.
The program, Pathways to Academic Excellence, or PAcE, is intended to increase the number of college graduates with degrees in science or math.
Southern has notified every high school in New Haven and Bridgeport of PAcE.
“The response has been a little underwhelming,” said Fields, associate professor of mathematics at SCSU and a coordinator of the PAcE program.
“There are kids in New Haven schools who won’t even try. That’s sad.”
SCSU
Students have until April 15 to apply, said Lara Smetana (pictured with Fields), assistant professor of elementary education at Southern and director of the university’s new Center for Excellence in Science and Mathematics.
“If expectations are raised, students will step up to them,” she said. “Students veer off of science and math early; they don’t see the possibility of success. They don’t understand how much creativity is involved, or the number of different careers,” she said.
PAcE is one of the center’s primary programs, Smetana said. The center has also been selected by the National Science Foundation as a pilot site for the Family Engineering Program, which is designed to introduce elementary-school-age students and their parents to engineering, in all of its varieties.
The center has also created the Southern Women in Mathematics and Science program (SWIMS), intended to support women interested in science and math.
But the real bargain is free tuition. Here’s the deal: Students are offered a free, four-year degree in math or one of the sciences. After they receive their degrees, participants will receive a complimentary laptop computer. Smetana said next year they will aim at high school juniors, rather than seniors.
College-bound seniors generally receive letters of acceptance and offers of financial aid in April.
The application process usually starts the summer before the student’s senior year. Smetana and Fields said they hope to interview potential PAcE candidates between April 1 to 15, although many seniors are already committed to colleges or have opted for community college, or no further education.
Smetana said ideally, all of the PAcE students would enter and proceed through college as a group, and then return to their high schools to encourage students to major in science or math. The attitude in some high schools is that math and science are for losers and “geeks,” she said.
Fields said he sent colorful PAcE cards to the 15 or so high schools in New Haven and Bridgeport.
The eye-catching cards show a Mandelbrot fractal, an image of proteins (pictured), the Hubble Space Telescope, convection near a plasma lamp, the periodic table of elements, and a false-color image of the Deep Impact probe hitting the comet Tempel I.
On the back are the PAcE website and some encouraging words. Join a cohort of highly motivated students, excel in academics, and participate in cutting edge research, all courtesy of the National Science Foundation.