An estimated 20 percent of Americans live with a disability of some kind, yet the disabled make up just five percent of the workforce in science and engineering. It’s a gap the National Science Foundation would like to narrow.
And they’ve enlisted the help of USM.
A new $1.3 million grant awarded to the University aims to increase the diversity of Maine students receiving degrees in what is known as the STEM fields – science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
The grant extends a project that USM has been involved in since 2003. Christine Maher, Professor and Chair of the Biology Department, describes her unique experience as a faculty mentor to a student researcher with a disability who received two fellowships funded by the first such grant a few years ago. This specific student was able to design and carry out two independent research projects over two summers, and is writing up the results of the second for publication in a scientific journal.
Maher is confident that the new round of funding will be just as beneficial to students.
“The grant will continue to provide opportunities for USM undergraduates in STEM fields to carry out independent research projects and learn what a great experience that can be,” Maher says.
She also points out that such projects often lead to students continuing on to Graduate School and STEM-based careers.
“My student researcher is now in a Ph.D. program at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst,” Maher adds.
The money will also be used to ratchet up local high school outreach programs, which seek to generate interest in science-related majors as students look ahead to college – especially among those with disabilities, who often have doubts about their capabilities. USM Professor Stephanie Langley-Turnbaugh, Chair of the Department of Environmental Science, is the Principle Investigator of the grant project. She originally got involved after working with high school students with disabilities at a NASA-funded summer camp at USM.
“I realized that students with disabilities were not being well served in high school science classes, and were not being encouraged to pursue science majors in college. I wanted to work toward change,” she says.
The idea is not just encouraging involvement among a seemingly neglected demographic, but putting USM at the center of the effort.
“We would like USM to become the ‘go to’ school for Maine students with disabilities interested in STEM,” Langley-Turnbaugh says.
One of the biggest roadblocks for students and educators alike tends to be reluctance to seek out support and assistance. Maher and Langley-Turnbaugh urge any student with a disability majoring in a STEM field here at USM to disclose their condition to the Office of Support for Students with Disabilities, if they haven’t already.
“Many times people may be afraid to tell someone, or even be ashamed, but they shouldn’t be.” Maher says. “We have some terrific opportunities for these students, and we want them to succeed here, but first, we need to know who they are.”