NEWS
By
Jacob Muñoz
jmunoz@ou.edu
Date
NORMAN, Okla. – As the University of Oklahoma experiences record-setting enrollment, driving 45% growth in incoming class sizes over the past six years, a team of faculty and staff received a major grant this summer that will help high-achieving, low-income STEM students learn and succeed.
The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded OU with a roughly $2 million Scholarships in STEM grant. The funding will establish scholarships for approximately 24 undergraduate students with demonstrated financial need who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in biomedical, civil, chemical, and petroleum and geoenergy engineering.
The scholarships will be provided through OU’s new Interdisciplinary Mentoring and Pathways for Academic Transitions (IMPACT) Scholars program. This program is currently anticipated to support two cohorts of about 12 scholars, beginning in fall 2027 and fall 2028, across the Gallogly College of Engineering and the Mewbourne College of Earth and Energy. The scholarships, worth up to $15,000 per year, will be available to each student for up to five years.
Beyond financial support, the IMPACT Scholars program will provide students with holistic assistance. That includes sustained mentoring, research experiences, career development workshops and cohort-based learning focused on addressing engineering challenges in society, such as sustainability and public health.
“We see this as both a way to bring in new students who otherwise wouldn't have access, and to support students who are here but financially strained,” said Jacob Pleasants, Ph.D., an associate professor of science education in the Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education and IMPACT co-principal investigator.
Sarah Breen, Ph.D., a Gallogly associate professor of biomedical engineering and IMPACT’s principal investigator, said the idea for the program came from observations of OU’s Engineering Summer Bridge program. This one-month program supports incoming first-year students in Gallogly and Mewbourne and will offer community-based experiences to IMPACT Scholars through cohorts.
“Through Engineering Summer Bridge, we saw how much talented students can benefit from early academic and community support,” Breen said. “At the same time, we knew there were students with tremendous potential who faced financial barriers to pursuing an engineering degree. IMPACT was designed to help close that gap.”
The program’s goal of assisting talented, low-income students is also shaping its structure. Brandon Abbott, the director of the Engineering Summer Bridge program and an IMPACT senior personnel, said it’s important for the team to recognize that students facing financial constraints may navigate the college-going process differently.
“Students from low-income backgrounds do not always have the same options, make decisions on the same timelines, or have access to the same information and resources that we assume students have,” said Abbott, who grew up as a first-generation university student from a low-income background.
“Financial support is certainly an integral piece of the puzzle, but it is not the whole solution,” Abbott said. “Our team wants to connect that financial support with the academic, professional and community-based resources students need to thrive, all while making those resources easier to access.”
The IMPACT team is now working on recruiting future Sooners and integrating the program and its scholarships into the application system, paving the way for next year’s Class of 2031. They will also collect program data to track impact toward successful student outcomes, with the help of a graduate research assistant supported through the grant.
As OU continues building the next generation of leaders, the IMPACT team also aims to equip the aspiring engineers and STEM professionals supported through these scholarships with the mindsets and skills necessary to make a positive impact beyond the university.
“We want to create an environment where they become exceptional graduates,” Breen said, “engineers who understand not only how to solve technical problems, but also how those solutions can respond to the needs of communities.”
About the project
“S-STEM: Preparing Impactful Engineers in Oklahoma” is funded by a $1,998,621.00 grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation, award no. #2619831. It will begin in January 2027 and is estimated to end in December 2032.
About the University of Oklahoma
Founded in 1890, the University of Oklahoma is a public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. As the state’s flagship university, OU serves the educational, cultural, economic and healthcare needs of the state, region and nation. For more information about the university, visit www.ou.edu.
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