The Northeastern University (NU) ITEL Scholarship Program (NSF Award #0849804) supported academically talented, financially constrained students receiving degrees in STEM, with a focus on engineering leadership. This program targeted incoming freshmen from surrounding K-12 school districts and transfer students from partner Community Colleges. Targeted districts included but were not limited to Boston, Cambridge, and Medford. Partner Community Colleges included Mass Bay, Middlesex, Northern Essex Community College and Roxbury Community College. Special emphasis was made on recruiting and retaining traditionally underrepresented students in this program. Participants were identified through various partnership programs including but not limited to the Young Scholars Program, NU Advanced Placement Summer Academic Support Program, the SummerMath program in Pre-calculus, and the Northeastern University STEP-UP project. Potential candidates were also provided application assistance through the Admissions office. This program built on the support systems available for students in the Colleges of Engineering and Arts and Science. Academic mentoring and support activities and services were expanded through the involvement of affiliated faculty and students. Through coordinating services provided across institutional partners, scholarship recipients were provided the opportunity to belong to a distinguished research community. Additionally, Scholars participated in NU’s Cooperative Education program. News Article.
Where are they now?| Name | Major | Year of Graduation | Career/Continued Education Plans | Futher Information Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Denis Ansah | Electrical Engineering | 2014 | Interop Test Engineer at HP | Denis' LinkedIn |
| Kevin Burgo | Civil Engineering | 2015 | Estimating Engineer at Turner Construction Company | Kevin's LinkedIn |
| Maureen Cabrera | Industrial Engineering | 2015 | Project Implementation Coordinator at Center for STEM Education. | Maureen's LinkedIn |
| Lia Calise | Chemical Engineering | 2015 | Associate Advanced Quality Engineer at CR Bard | Lia's LinkedIn |
| Casey Hersey (Cocoran) | Electrical Engineering | 2014 | Hardware Engineer at Teradyne | Casey's LinkedIn |
| Melissa Ellis | Civil Engineering | 2015 | Engineer at Barletta Heavy Division | Melissa's LinkedIn |
| Mohamed Kante | Electrical Engineering | 2012 | Visionary & Chief Nerd at iNERDE Inc. | Mohamed's LinkedIn |
| Jason Lee | Mechanical Engineering | 2015 | University Instructor at Zhejiang University of Science and Technology | Jason's LinkedIn |
| Nauchelle Martinez | Chemical Engineering | 2015 | Technical Engineer for Fujifilm Manufacturing USA | Nauchelle's LinkedIn |
| Erin O'Neil | Electrical Engineering | 2017 | Current Student | Erin's LinkedIn |
| Joseph Robinson | Electrical Engineering | 2014 | Computer Engineering Ph.D Student at Northeastern University | Joseph's LinkedIn |
| Lyda Sallaway | Mechanical Engineering | 2015 | Lyda's LinkedIn Research Experience |
|
| Neel Shah | Electrical Engineering | 2015 | SoC Security Architect at Intel Corporation | Neel's LinkedIn Senior Spotlight |
Key Program Components
Most Scholarship recipients attended the Northeastern University Summer Bridge program for entering engineering freshman and/or Transfer students. All but one of the invited students chose to attend this program. The Summer Bridge Program provided students the opportunity to meet as a cohort group in addition to meeting upper class STEM students. A variety of networking opportunities were provided. In addition students were provided an overview of academic and social supports available to them upon return to campus.
The program was held at an off campus location owned by the university, the Ashland Conference Center. More recent scholarship recipients engaged in summer research experiences to facilitate their transition into Northeastern University.
Scholarship recipients now span from freshman to graduates.
Academic Support
Monitoring programs, already in place at NU, continue to be available to all scholarship recipients. Program information has been shared at general college sessions in addition to scholarship group meetings and through our newly created electronic support system.
Collaborative programs such as WIE (Women in Engineering), and NUPRIME (NU Program in Multi-Cultural Engineering) are providing academic and professional help to underrepresented students.
Academic mentoring and opportunities to engage in research experiences and K-12 outreach efforts are being provided by Gordon Center for Subsurface Sensing and Imaging in collaboration with The Center for STEM Education.
Ongoing Support
ITEL Scholars continue to be supported as part of the university’s expanded research community. Seminars continue to be offered through the Gordon CenSSIS center in addition to those offered by a collaborative research center; ALERT a Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence.
Students have continued to participate in a variety of seminars offered by the college throughout the academic year in addition to being encouraged to attend the annual meetings of our affiliated research center. ITEL Scholars were paired with upper class student mentors in their early years of the program.
ITEL Scholars were encouraged to attend the following activities and events over the past year. Most of these events are annual events students are encouraged to participate in.
- SWE/Connections Luncheon
- Engineering Ice Cream Social
- Chemistry Review Sessions
- Scavenger Hunt
- COE Freshman Night
- Breast Cancer Walk
- Women in Engineering Day
- Gordon CenSSIS K-12 Outreach Opportunities
- Potluck Dinner for Freshman
- Building Bridges
