Founded in 2003, the LA-STEM Research Scholars Program helped students with interests in science, technology, engineering and mathematics find fellowships, internships and research opportunities.
Though the program’s grant funding has run out, the effects it had on the STEM community and its students remain strong.
Isiah Warner, vice president of the Office of Strategic Initiatives, which oversees LA-STEM, said the program put LSU on equal footing with colleges such as Auburn University. Auburn, a rival university, is known in the science, technology, engineering and mathmatics community for its ability to provide its students with internships and post-graduate opportunities as well as a high level of academia. The program’s graduates have gone on to distinguished STEM institutions such as the University of Maryland and Stanford University.
“There are a lot of students who come from various backgrounds … they may come from schools that don’t even offer trigonometry or precalculus,” LA-STEM Program Manager Melissa Crawford said. “So they’ll get into LA-STEM and we’ll give them the tools, the strategies and the support and they’re able to compete and succeed.”
The funding was provided by grants from the Board of Regents, the National Science Foundation and others.
The program provided funding for students’ housing, Ogden Honors College admission and $1500 semesterly stipends. Crawford said those in LA-STEM become a close family, making it a comprehensive program covering a variety of fields such as health, social skills, academics and financial literacy.
“I think we do a better job of marketing what STEM is,” Executive Director of Research Gloria Thomas said. “You can help people every day being a doctor but you can also help them in a research lab. It’s going to be a researcher that finds the cure for cancer, not a general practitioner. I think we do a better job at telling people what scientists and engineers can do to help people.”
The 20 to 25 students selected for each LA-STEM class were expected to uphold specific academic standards, such as a 3.5 GPA to remain in the program. The majority of LA-STEM graduates pursue post-baccalaureate programs.
When LSU alumnus Bruno Beltran arrived at the university, he’d never heard of the program. During his first year, he met LA-STEM students who recommended he join them, which he did formally during his sophomore year.
“You get all these materials thrown at, and it seems like you’re wasting your time, but come around the spring time, Dr. Warner has recommendations for you,” Beltran said.
Beltran had fellowships through Yale University and the Arizona State University Mathematical and Theoretical Biology Institute during his time at LSU.
He graduated from LSU in the spring and currently attends Stanford where he is pursuing a Ph.D in chemical and systems biology. Out of 450 applicants, Beltran was one of three accepted and he credits LA-STEM as a huge factor in this achievement.
“The reason why LA-STEM was so successful is that it provided people with an opportunity that would’ve otherwise left them isolated in their pursuit to really form a family of people that would support them,” Beltran said. “My father passed away my sophomore year and where I didn’t have the money to continue without getting a job, LA-STEM was there to pick up the slack.”
Biological engineering senior Mollie Smoak is a part of the last class of LA-STEM scholars. She applied to the program after seeing an advertisement at her high school.
She attended a “selection weekend” where the program was further explained, and students were shown the kinds of research possible in the STEM professions.
Smoak was then chosen for the program and attended the LA-STEM Summer Bridge Program where she took a series of mentoring workshops and participated in a research laboratory all before starting her freshman year.
Since then, Smoak has had fellowships through Mayo Clinic and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She said neither opportunity would have happened without her involvement in LA-STEM.
“I came in not even knowing there was anything past a bachelors [in the STEM field] unless you were going to medical school,” Smoak said. “I can completely contribute LA-STEM for setting me up to go to graduate school.”
The Office of Strategic Initiatives is currently looking for a new source of funding to sustain the program.