In an effort to address the shortage of high-tech professionals in the Baltimore region, Howard Community College is offering 20 scholarships to entice students to enter the field.
Students majoring in such subjects as biotechnology, computer science, engineering, environmental science, life sciences, mathematics or physical sciences will be eligible, said Bernadette Sandruck, chairwoman of the college?s math division.
“Research has shown that students are more likely to persist in majors if they can be full-time students and part of a learning community,” Sandruck said.
Students will receive advice from mentors in science, technology, engineering and math fields and help finding internships or other learning experiences through relationships with NASA and global defense and technology company Northrop Grumman Corp., she said.
In neighboring Anne Arundel County, a recent report from the Fort Meade Alliance said a shortage of workers with high-tech skills to fill defense and homeland security jobs threatens Maryland?s economic development and the war on terror.
“Because Maryland is so critical to the provision of services and technologies related to national homeland security and defense … there is an implicit obligation to provide the human capital necessary to protect America,” the report said.
Impacts of Base Realignment and Closure on Maryland could result in as many as 60,000 new residents and about 44,000 jobs, according to the Anne Arundel County BRAC Task Force, which represented citizen, business and government interests in a study of work force development impacts last year.
Starting this fall, the HCC National Science Foundation Science & Technology scholarships will be awarded for up to two years, in amounts up to $6,000, to cover tuition and other student needs, said Sandruck.
To be eligible, students must demonstrate financial need, have a minimum 2.8 GPA and other related criteria.
The deadline to apply is March 1.
Other school systems have also realized the benefits of STEM programs.
Anne Arundel Superintendent Kevin Maxwell has budgeted $1.1 million in his recommended fiscal 2009 operating budget for the new STEM magnet program at North County High School and a Homeland Security signature program at Meade High School.
