If you don’t take physics in high school, you are not going to become an engineer.  With this in mind, the education and diversity staff of CLiPS, the National Science Foundation Center for Layered Polymeric Systems (stc-clips.org), one of fourteen NSF Science and Technology Centers across the U.S., developed a program to reach into the challenged public schools of Cleveland Ohio, where taking physics is not always an option, and many schools do not have chemistry laboratory facilities.  The Envoys program brings talented high school students onto the campus of Case Western Reserve University (CWRU), a research-intensive institution located in an urban environment.  In the decade preceding the launch of the Envoys program, many young people from suburban schools had worked in the Department of Macromolecular Science and Engineering at CWRU, but not a single student from the local neighborhood schools had been seen in their laboratories, much less enrolled as an undergraduate.  By contrast, nine years into the Envoys program, ninety-four inner city students have participated in the program.  This immersive, college-preparatory program spans three academic years and three summers, with fifteen students currently enrolled.  Of the sixty students who have finished the program to date, all have gone on to college, with fifty-two majoring in STEM fields.  By contrast, the students at high schools participating in this program graduate have a far lower rate of graduation or matriculation; fewer yet entering engineering or science.<br/>As CLiPS enters its tenth year as an NSF STC, lessons learned from the Envoys program’s participants and outside assessments have laid the groundwork for continued success in the future.<br/>

Chemistry research used to bring inner city students into STEM careers

251st National Meeting (2016)

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