Ruiz helped secure crucial funding to create STEM opportunities for local students

WASHINGTON —California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB) will receive a nearly $5 million grant from the Department of Education’s Hispanic-Serving Institution’s (HSI) Science, Technology Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) and Articulation Program, Congressman Raul Ruiz, M.D. (CA-36) announced today.

The grant will increase the number of Hispanic and low-income students who graduate from CSUSB with degrees in STEM fields. Earlier this year, Ruiz wrote to Secretary of Education Dr. Miguel Cardona in support of the program.

CSUSB will use the grant to establish a new Science Success Center, which will provide students with many benefits, including career panels and social events where they can cultivate friendships, host peer tutoring and small group learning communities, provide supplemental instruction.

“I am thrilled to have helped secure nearly $5 million in federal funding for California State University, San Bernardino through the Department of Education’s Hispanic-Serving Institution’s Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) and Articulation Program,” Dr. Ruiz said in a prepared statement. “This much-needed investment in our local students’ education will help provide exceptional STEM opportunities for our communities as well as grow our local economy, build a diverse workforce, and create jobs here at home. I look forward to continuing to collaborate with CSUSB to deliver valuable opportunities for our local students that will set them on the path to success.”

“We are very excited about this grant, which builds on our continuing grant ‘Advising for Undergraduate Success (A4US)’. This is a huge win for our students,” said Sastry Pantula, dean of the CSUSB College of Natural Sciences, which received the five-year grant, ‘Proactive Approaches for Training Hispanics in STEM (PATHS).’ “We believe it will make a significant impact on Hispanic students, low-income students and transfer students over the next five years.”

“This five-year financial support from the Department of Education will strengthen our college’s efforts to decrease equity gaps among our students, retain students in STEM, increase graduation rates, and prepare our graduates for graduate and professional schools, through proactive advising, individual development plans, expanded support systems, and access to valuable undergraduate research and learning assistant experiences,” continued Pantula, who will serve as the grant’s principal investigator, along with co-investigators, Dave Maynard, Guillermo Escalante, Carol Hood and Khalil Dajani.

CSUSB Provost Shari McMahan said the grant will play a significant role for the college.

“This funding is particularly important because it will broaden our efforts in establishing our new Science Success Center and have a significant impact on the sense of belonging in science, technology, engineering (STEM) disciplines,” McMahan said. “PATHS will assist us in putting these students on a path to success.”

Along with aligning students’ learning objectives with the skills required for employment in in-demand industry sectors and providing work-based learning experiences, the grant is designed to increase the frequency with which students from local community colleges transfer to degree programs within CSUSB’s College of Natural Sciences and earn STEM degrees.

 

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