ANSEP awarded $1.25M NSF grant

The Alaska Native Science & Engineering Program (ANSEP) was notified today that it is the recipient of a $1.25M grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to fund the Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) Alaska Alliance.

The LSAMP Alaska Alliance is the B.S. undergraduate portion of ANSEP's comprehensive longitudinal model that starts with middle school students, extends through high school, into the undergraduate years, on to graduate school and into the professions. ANSEP's objective is to effect a systemic change in the hiring patterns in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by increasing the number of individuals on a career path to leadership in STEM fields. ANSEP first received LSAMP funding in 2001. There are 1,000 ANSEP students and alumni.

This new funding supports:

1. additional improvements to the undergraduate education experience by building upon the work ANSEP is doing at the critical junctures of the transition between high school and college and the transition from undergraduate to graduate school;
2. expansion of capacity for undergraduate research;
3. building capacity to conduct international research projects;
4. and strengthening ANSEP presence on the Alliance community campuses.

"We are bringing Native students who are prepared in math and science to our universities in numbers that are unprecedented," says Herb Ilisaurri Schroeder, ANSEP's founder and vice provost. "Some students arrive ready for calculus 3 and higher during their first semester freshman year. Students are graduating and moving on to the professions and graduate schools. We are replicating our model at higher education institutions in 12 states and we have developed partnerships with 130 organizations that provide funding, advocacy, research opportunities and internships for our students at every level."

About Alaska Native Science & Engineering Program:

Founded in 1995 with a single student, ANSEP's goal is to effect a systematic change in the hiring patterns of indigenous Americans in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by increasing the number of individuals on a career path to leadership in STEM fields. Learn more about ANSEP at www.ansep.net.