The National Science Foundation recently renewed a $629,000 grant to Otterbein’s Cardinal Science Scholars program, which awards grants and unique opportunities to students demonstrating talent in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics fields.
The NSF, is an independent federal agency commissioned to promote discovery in all fields of science and engineering, except those concerned with medical sciences. The agency promotes the sciences in the form of public programming, such as NOVA, a scientific educational TV program, environmental research and feats of engineering. In addition to this and other methods, their website said they provide funding for about 20 percent of all federally supported research done by American colleges and universities.
The students, after fulfilling certain academic requirements, receive a scholarship, co-curricular support from senior students and the opportunity to dorm in a living-learning community, complete with social activities to accommodate them to Otterbein life. They can also visit local companies and labs relevant to their major.
There have been more than 35 students that have been involved in the program at Otterbein, which has been ongoing since 2009, with the exception of an incident where the program was temporarily suspended last year due to political issues concerning the economy, which led to a proposal to renew the program to be delayed.
Fortunately, the CSS is now back in full swing thanks to the renewal, according to Dave Robertson, associate professor of the Department of Physics at Otterbein and co-investigator for the CSS program. “It’s been a successful program so far. In the first grant, the retention and persistence for STEM majors was significantly higher than those who were not in the program, meaning that they were changing their majors at a much lower rate,” Robertson said. Because of the effects of the first grant that the NSF continues to support the program, as it would be within their interests to support the STEM fields, Robertson added.
Bobby Geiger, a biochemistry and chemistry double major and a student in the program, said his life has been changed because of the program. “I couldn’t have gotten the opportunity to go to Otterbein if it wasn’t for the program,” Geiger said. “The advisers are a huge help, it’s a great way to get to know people and it even changed what I want to be in life — from a doctor to a researcher.”
Due to the government shutdown, NSF is currently defunded. One might hope, however, that the program will continue as planned in the coming years.
