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IUPUI SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM THAT RECRUITS TALENTED MINORITY STUDENTS TO SCIENCE, ENGINEERING AND HEALTH PROFESSIONS PRODUCES FIRST GRADUATES

INDIANAPOLIS - The first students to earn bachelor's degrees under an Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) scholarship program designed to recruit talented minority students into the science, engineering, and health professions will participate in graduation ceremonies May 13.

The four graduating IUPUI seniors in the Minority Research Scholars Program (MRSP) and their anticipated degrees are:

· Aric Anderson, bachelor's degree in biology, Purdue School of Science;

· Jennifer Elaine Brooks, bachelor's of science in computer technology, Purdue School of Engineering and Technology;

· Matthew Paul Davis, bachelor's of exercise science, IU School of Physical Education;

· Tamika Renae Walker, bachelor's of social work, IU School of Social Work.

Brooks, Davis, and Walker will be awarded their degrees next month. All three entered IUPUI in the fall of 1997 and were recently named among the Top 100 Students at the campus of Indiana University and Purdue University schools. As high school seniors, the three were also named National Achievement Scholars based on their high scores on a pre-college entrance placement exam.

Anderson will complete requirements for graduation in August. The honor student transferred to IUPUI from Florida A&M University and entered the MRSP in the fall of 2000.

"These students have become very accomplished in research, and very accomplished as speakers, and some of them will eventually publish papers with their faculty mentors," said David Stocum, dean of the School of Science. "What this has done is make these students very competitive in getting jobs or going on to graduate or professional schools."

The program provides annual scholarships covering full tuition and fees, along with a book stipend, to students selected for the program. Each scholarship is renewable for four undergraduate years, if students maintain a 3.0 grade point average, and complete individual research projects with a faculty member as mentor. MRSP students are also required to meet monthly and participate in research programs on the campus.

The scholarship program grew out of sessions Stocum held with African American School of Science students in 1996 to determine what needed to be done to attract and retain minority students in the science, engineering and health fields.

"Minorities are very under-represented in those fields," Stocum said. "There are a lot opportunities out there and we want to make sure those opportunities are graspable."

IUPUI academic units that participate in the MRSP are the schools of allied health, dentistry, engineering and technology, medicine, nursing, physical education, science, and social work.

The four graduating seniors are among 21 students currently enrolled in the program originally funded in 1997 by an IU Strategic Directives Initiative Grant.

"Most of them are National Achievement Scholars," said MRSP director Marshusa Huff, associate professor of nursing. "They got offers to go to every school imaginable. They could have gone anywhere, but they chose to come to IUPUI because of this program."

The program's retention rate is about 96 percent, Stocum said.

The scholarship program is unique in that recipients are placed in a structured research environment and paired with mentors from the start of their freshman year, as compared to waiting until their junior and senior years.

"I was able to work closely with a faculty member and be exposed to research projects that I otherwise would not have been exposed to," Walker said.

Recruited while in high school, all MRSP participants were in the top 25 percent of their graduating high school class, scored a minimum of 1000 out of 1600 on the SAT college placement exam, maintained a minimum grade of B in their high school and math courses, and are Indiana residents who graduated from Indiana high schools.

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