The National Science Foundation has awarded the University of Houston-Downtown $542,316 over four years to fund an initiative to encourage academically-talented students with financial need to major in computer sciences and to pursue graduate studies in various computing fields.

Ali Berrached, UHD professor, is principal investigator for the grant. UHD's Undergraduate/Graduate Immersion in Computer Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (UGI-CSTEM) Program is designed to improve the University's recruitment, retention and graduation of UGI-CSTEM students. This grant is an extension of a one-year award the University received in August 2010 for a total NSF award of $598,088 for the combined 5-year period.

UGI-CSTEM is a joint program of the Department of Computer and Mathematical Sciences at UHD and the University of Houston.The program provides 12 undergraduate scholarships and up to four graduate scholarships to computer science majors each year.

"Scholarship recipients receive a stipend of up to $10,000 per academic year and are engaged in integrated research and education activities designed to improve their retention and to better prepare them to take on professional positions or pursue graduate studies in the computing field upon graduation," Berrached said."The program also has a summer component (dependent on availability of funds) that is more focused on faculty mentored undergraduate student research."

For more information on application deadlines see the Department of Computer and Mathematical Sciences web pages at http://www.uhd.edu/. Contact Berrached at 713-221-8639 or berracheda@uhd.edu.