Computer Science Awarded $287,500 Grant
The National Science Foundation awarded Westmont professors Kim P. Kihlstrom and Wayne Iba a $287,500 grant for their project Connection-Oriented Computer Science Education. The grant will provide scholarships of up to $10,000 each year to students majoring in computer science who demonstrate financial need and academic promise.
The project aims to increase the number of talented and well-prepared computer science graduates, particularly women and culturally diverse students.
It builds on a program established through an earlier NSF grant, which includes recruiting, undergraduate research opportunities, women’s activities, mentoring, internships, conference participation and community-building experiences.
The key activities added for the new project include an annual weekend scholarship competition and recruiting event, Connection Weekend, to be held at Westmont Feb. 22-23, as well as administration of study groups and tutoring.
“We are so thankful that our relatively new computer science major has received such significant support from a very prestigious funding agency,” says Kihlstrom, the program principal investigator. “The project will serve to increase cultural and ethnic diversity in our program, benefiting the entire community. We have many students with significant financial need, and the scholarships will have a very positive impact on students such as these.”
One distinctive of the Westmont computer science program is the opportunity for undergraduate students to engage in cutting-edge research with Kihlstrom and Iba. Several Westmont computer science students have published scientific papers and given presentations at conferences as a result of their research. The Westmont computer science major also includes innovative opportunities for computer science students to pursue interdisciplinary connections with other fields such as business, biology or art.
The grant is funded through the Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM) program of NSF. S-STEM funded 90 of the 250 proposals it received from institutions including Harvard, Cornell, Texas A&M, University of Arizona, US Air Force Academy, University of North Carolina, University of Texas, Harvey Mudd College, and University of Massachusetts.
NSF is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 to promote the progress of science.