CSEMS V at CAL

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The Multicultural Engineering Program (MEP) of the University of California at Berkeley Center for Underrepresented Engineering Students (CUES) administers the CSEMS V at Cal program. This work builds on previous and current CSEMS at Cal awards being administered by MEP. CSEMS V at Cal follows a single cohort of freshman and sophomore students over a four-year period, and awards scholarships of $3125 per year to twenty-nine economically disadvantaged students, with a special emphasis on students from underrepresented groups in engineering and science. Recruitment of the Cal-CSEMS Scholars targets three groups: 1) freshmen admitted for Fall 2004 or Spring 2005, 2) freshmen participating in the MEP Summer 2004 Pre-Engineering Program, and 3) freshmen and sophomores participating in academic workshops and mathematics placement testing during Cal Summer Orientation (CalSO) offered by the Coalition for Excellence and Diversity in Mathematics, Science and Engineering. This group will include students from majors in Berkeley's College of Engineering, chemical engineering majors in the College of Chemistry, and students in the College of Letters and Science who are completing coursework to pursue (a) the computer science or mathematics majors in the College of Letters and Science or (b) a major in the College of Engineering. Students are chosen by a committee of Berkeley faculty and staff from Coalition academic support programs, which employ a comprehensive approach in evaluating each student's academic merit and professionalism. Intellectual Merit: Cal-CSEMS scholars participate in a variety of retention-related activities tied to the existing student support infrastructure of CUES, the Coalition for Excellence and Diversity in Mathematics, Science, and Engineering, the EECS Center for Undergraduate Matters and other partner programs. This includes faculty advising, academic excellence workshops, tutoring, mentoring, advising, internships in industry or research experience, and assistance with graduate school applications or job placement. A unifying theme of the CSEMS V at Cal program is increasing student retention by helping each student develop into a committed member of the engineering and academic community. Programs such as those available to the CSEMS scholars are practical ways to remove social and cultural barriers in SME fields and reinforce the value of providing educational opportunity and equity to a diverse student pool. Broader Impacts: There is an increasing shortfall in the number of qualified students that will be able to fill the need for computer science and engineering professionals in the workforce. Students' financial troubles are increasingly likely to interrupt and delay their degree completion. Currently, 60% of Berkeley students demonstrate some type of financial need, and are receiving need-based support in order to attend college. Financial need is perhaps a more serious impediment to timely completion of engineering degrees--the technical course load is often not compatible with long hours of outside work. Indeed, the scholarship support from the CSEMS V at Cal program may also facilitate students' ability to enrich their educational experience with activities that are not necessarily tied to financial obligations, such as undergraduate research, tutoring, and teaching. By decreasing students' loan debt upon graduation, these scholarships may also encourage students to pursue graduate degrees before entering the technical workforce.