Photo by Kani Takeno

TOPS for science careers

NSF grant funds ambitious five-year partnership

By Jan Lucas

 A $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation will help TU graduate science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) majors who come here from Baltimore high schools and the Baltimore City Community College (BCCC).

Towson Opportunities in STEM (TOPS) is a five-year partnership between the Jess and Mildred Fisher College of Science and Mathematics and BCCC. The project is designed to open doors to underrepresented students and to improve the number and diversity of STEM graduates. 

Associate Provost Katherine Denniston developed the TOPS grant proposal as associate dean of the Fisher College, drawing upon her experience as an National Science Foundation program director.

She proposed a variety of ways TU could reach out to underserved urban high schools to attract STEM majors to BCCC and TU programs. Plans include early research experiences, plus presentations by TU professors and visits from the university’s admissions and financial aid staff. Both BCCC and TU partners will provide advising and mentoring, with TU undergraduates also serving as peer mentors and tutors. TOPS will offer summer bridge programs as well as workshops and other activities designed to acclimate TOPS students to TU’s campus.

Jane Wolfson, who directs TU’s Environmental Science and Studies program, also serves as the TOPS program director. She says the program is just getting under way, but that she expects it will steer talented students into STEM careers who might not otherwise have considered them. 

“There’s a regional shortage of people prepared to enter science and mathematics careers,” she adds. “Our goal is to make underrepresented students aware of the career options available to them. So many aren’t aware of the enormous variety of science careers out there. Much of what they know is derived from popular culture, which doesn't focus much on these areas.

“TOPS will enable us to identify and encourage students who demonstrate aptitude and interest in STEM fields and to facilitate their pathway from high schools to TU, either directly or via BCCC.”

Wolfson points to the importance of a “seamless support structure” once the recruited STEM majors reach TU. “They may have economic or family constraints,” she says. “We’ll need to provide a support structure and to institutionalize that structure."

The project calls for a TOPS Center equipped with computers where mentors and tutors can work with the students to address all academic issues—not just those relating to science and mathematics.

“We’ll need to draw on human resources from all over the campus, Wolfson adds. “The ‘people component’ is crucial to the success of this project.’”

She also emphasizes that the TOPS project will undergo continual assessment over the course of five years, enabling the partners to modify or abandon any unproductive efforts.

“If we determine that something isn’t working, we will try something else,” she says.

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