The U. A. Whitaker College of Engineering at Florida Gulf Coast University is in the fourth year of an S-STEM grant and currently engaging 35 students from freshman to senior level across every engineering program at the University. Last year witnessed a major milestone with the graduation of six individuals from the first cohort of participants. This year we anticipate to add to that number with an additional eight graduates. The program has fostered both horizontal (by class) and vertical (by major) cohort cohesiveness through various informal activities as well as overall program participant bonding through larger group experiences and a dedicated program space within the engineering building.
As one of the primary goals of the proposal was to develop cohorts that met or exceeded national standards with respect to diversity, the authors find it notable that the program currently involves women and under-represented minorities in engineering at levels above those of national averages, and significantly above levels (with respect to gender and select URMs) seen in the larger engineering population at the University. This paper will discuss general program information, present programmatic activities and resources, summarize participant characteristics, and present lessons learned and future direction plans.
http://orcid.org/https://0009-0003-9407-7753
Florida Gulf Coast University
[biography]
Dr. Kunberger is Division Chair for Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Pittsburgh Johnstown.
Chris Geiger is an Instructional Associate Professor in the J. Crayton Pruitt Family Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Florida. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Biomedical Engineering from Northwestern University, and his B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering, also from Northwestern University
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