Social and Intellectual Impact

The NSF S-STEM Scholarship's Social and Intellectual Impact

Social Impact

York College’s student population consists of 66.1% underrepresented minorities, with 45.5% from low income families, 65.8% women and over 33.6% first-generation college students. The goal of the NSF SSTEM at York College Program is to increase enrollment, retention rates and number of graduate students and professionals from these underrepresented groups in Chemistry, Computer Science, Mathematics and Physics.

The Program will create and sustain a supportive community of diverse scholars to achieve this goal. Being located in one of the most ethnically diverse urban areas in the US, NSF S-STEM at York College is well situated to increase diversity in STEM fields and to link students with minority-owned businesses and other STEM internship opportunities, thereby diversifying the STEM workforce and enhancing partnerships between academia and STEM industries. The project will build on York College’s success in promoting upward social mobility and, as a result, will have a positive impact on the surrounding community.

Intellectual Impact

In addition to financially supporting STEM scholars, the NSF S-STEM Program at York College will

• enhance peer mentoring and tutoring via the creation of cohorts in STEM majors,
• improve learning environments in foundational math classes and
• facilitate the use of evidence-based best practices across campus support services so as to result in positive outcomes for all students in STEM majors.