Sonoma State University (SSU) uses Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Pipeline funds from the California Space Grant to support faculty and students in two outreach programs that strive to increase the number of underrepresented STEM students in the pipeline: SSU’s Summer High School Internship Program (SHIP) and SSU’s MESA program. For SHIP, funds will be used to support five faculty mentors in aerospace-related projects. For MESA, funds will be used to support (the spring semester salary of) the MESA Student Assistant who tutors during the academic year and a summer research internship for a MESA member who will work on an aerospace-related project. The results of both projects will be evaluated by WestEd.
Summer High School Internship Program
For the past three years, the School of Science and Technology (SST) at SSU in partnership with the Sonoma County Office of Education (SCOE) has created a summer research internship program for Sonoma County high school juniors under the mentorship of SST faculty to stimulate interest in STEM fields. The most talented and interested students from these high schools are selected competitively. These students are given opportunities to work on challenging projects, become familiar with excellent state-of-the art research and development facilities, experience the university education environment, and interact with the faculty and SSU undergraduate students. The high school students then act as ambassadors to relay their experiences to their classmates and friends, counselors, teachers, and principals during their senior year.