Harris Stowe University

Minority Science and Engineering Improvement Program (MSEIP)

An interdisciplinary field like SUE (Sustainability and Urban Ecology) could engage diverse faculty and provide customized STEM learning activities and interventions for students. The activities held on campus and supervised closely by faculty created unique learning communities of students to foster a sense of belonging. Students spending time in academic activities unrelated to grades with faculty, get more comfortable with being around faculty and each other at school. This fosters scholarship and students also then spend more time on schoolwork on campus getting help from faculty and fellow students. Collaborative study groups and academic fellowship result. The cohort of students with their strong academic focus then influences the greater college with other students encouraged to study longer hours on campus. Students gain skills and are able to explore their interests. This is the stepping stone to furthering students’ academic careers by creating competitive resume’s for research and internships on and off campus. The MSEIP project was designed to foster these interests outside the narrow confines of a classroom, and improve faculty-student engagement so that students would be more inclined to view their faculty as their academic role models, and also take their own scholarship seriously.

Green House Venture Partnership

MSEIP students will potentially partner with GHV on future projects. The MSEIP students have in the past helped with homework and STEM activities with elementary school students. They have also mentored high school students.

Our Location

Phone: (314) 340-3579

Principal Investigator – MSEIP Grant HSSU: Dr. Jayashree Balakrishna