The National Science Foundation (NSF), the nation’s premier agency that sponsors STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) research and education activities in colleges and universities across the country, has granted Solano Community College $622,715 to award 165 scholarships to “academically talented and financially needy” students over a five-year period. Dr. Jowel Laguerre, the outgoing Superintendent-President of SCC was pleased, stating “I am happy that SCC received the grant. This is the second time within one year that we received an NSF grant. I’d like to express my sincere appreciation to Professors Genele Roads, Chuck Spillner, and Zhen Chen, Drs. Jose Ballesteros and John Yu, Cynthia Garcia, Peter Cammish, Pei-Lin Van’t Hul and others who were involved.”

Professor Genele Rhoads, the Director of the project and the President of the Solano County Mathematics Education Association stated, “The 2+1 STEM scholarship grant from the National Science Foundation provides a wonderful opportunity for Solano Community College to support academically talented students who want to study and work in a STEM field; especially students who may be the first in their family to attend college or have difficulty paying for college. In addition to financial support, the program includes counseling and mentoring and provides opportunities for tutoring, internships, and special projects.”

Dr. Leslie Minor, Vice President of Academic Affairs, added “We are very excited to see our deserving STEM students be rewarded for their hard work with these scholarships. We look forward to seeing great things from them in the future.”

Dr. John Yu, the Dean for the School of Math and Science and a former NSF program director, credited Dr. Laguerre’s leadership and the great STEM programs at SCC for helping to secure the grant. “The chance of receiving an NSF STEM scholarship grant is about 10 to 15% and it is a very competitive process.” he said.

The grant will award 25 to 35 scholarships per year to students in Astronomy, Biology, Biotech, Chemistry, CADD, Computer Science, Engineering, Geology/Geography, Horticulture, Mathematics, Physics, Surveying, and Water/Waste Water Treatment. If these students transfer to a four-your institution in a STEM major, they will be awarded an additional year to continue their study at that institution. The scholarship support will average $3,000 per year per student.

The Director of the project is Genele Rhoads and the Co-Directors are Jose Ballesteros, Chuck Spillner, Zhen Chen and John Yu. The evaluators for the project are Peter Cammish and Pei-Lin Van’t Hul. Many SCC staff contributed to the success of the NSF Proposal. They include Shirley Lewis, Maire Morinec, Diane White, Robin Darcangelo, Curt Johnston, Yashica Crawford, Patrick Killingworth and Yulian Ligioso.

For more information, contact Dr. John Yu, Dean of Math and Sciences, at Zhanjing.Yu@solano.edu or 707.864-7110