College Will Establish "Geoscience Scholars" Program

The College of Geosciences recently received a $600,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to establish a new "Geoscience Scholars” program under the direction of Mary Richardson, professor of Oceanography. This program will provide scholarships for a minimum of 26 students majoring in one of the geosciences. These will be two-year scholarships of up to $10,000 annually.

The Geoscience Scholars Program will provide scholarship funds to defray the cost of attendance for new students recruited into the College. The College of Geosciences consists of the Departments of Atmospheric Sciences, Geography, Geology & Geophysics, and Oceanography. In addition, the College hosts interdisciplinary degree programs in Environmental Geosciences and Spatial Science at the undergraduate level and Water Management and Hydrologic Science at the graduate level. The College proposes to recruit a total of at least 26 academically talented, financially needy students into these disciplines over the five years of this project.

Scholarship support for the Geoscience Scholars is provided through funding from the NSF’s Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Program. The scholarship assistance will allow talented students to attend TAMU and obtain degrees in the geosciences when they would otherwise not have had the resources to do so. It is anticipated that the scholarship program will form a lasting upward trend in College enrollments and in the number of STEM-based geosciences degrees granted.