The STAMPS (Science, Technology and Math Preparation Scholarships) Program at UNCG is supported by the National Science Foundation. It offers scholarships of up to $4,600 per year for academically talented undergraduate students in the sciences. STAMPS provides financial and community support for undergraduate students who are majoring in Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Geography, Mathematical Sciences, or Physics and Astronomy. Students are awarded scholarships based on a demonstration of both a significant promise for success in science/math and a measurable financial need. In addition to financial support, STAMPS incorporates a variety of community-building measures, including peer mentors, a science colloquium series, tutoring, and field trips to research facilities.
STAMPS students and faculty meet together to examine the interconnectedness of the S-STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) disciplines, investigate career opportunities, and explore cutting-edge research. To this end, STAMPS provides a broad range of interdisciplinary lectures and programs, visits to scientific labs, and opportunities to network with other students to form a community of scientists. For example, in past years, STAMPS students have visited the Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology, the National Aquarium and Smithsonian museums and galleries on the National Mall. In April 2018 and 2015, our STAMPS students visited Washington DC, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and NASA’s Goddard Space Center, all of which showed students possible career pathways in STEM. Not only did students tour the facilities, but they also had opportunities to talk with the mathematicians and scientists working at those research centers. Other past trips have included exploration of a wild cave in Eastern Tennessee, and visits to the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute (PARI), Duke University’s Lemur Center, Stone Mountain, NC, and the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering (JSNN).
STAMPS was established to help students graduate with degrees in STEM and to prepare them to continue in STEM-related careers or further education. Perhaps the greatest impact of the program can be found in the comments of many of the participants who report that their personal aspirations of what they want and believe they can accomplish as scientists have been raised by STAMPS. Many who previously saw obtaining their undergraduate degree as the culmination of their educational journey have gone on to attend outstanding STEM graduate programs. Instead of simply working in scientific fields, they now see themselves as wanting to make and capable of making significant contributions in their fields.
STAMPS is generously supported by the National Science Foundation by an approved grant (Award #2029883 Preparing College Students who Enter from High School or Transfer from Community Colleges for STEM Careers and Graduate School) in NSF’s Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM) program. STAMPS Principal Investigators include Dr. Malcolm Schug, Dr. Jeff Patton, Dr. Lynn Sametz, Dr. Lee Phillips, and Dr. Kimberly Petersen.
