Going full STEM ahead

Dearborn Wolverine Noora Ahmad wants to be a doctor - more specifically, she wants to help people with hearing loss. Passionate about the field, the sophomore has family who have benefited from cochlear implants and other auditory assistive devices.

As the first in her immediate family to go to college to pursue medicine, Ahmad wasn't exactly sure what path she'd need to take in college to reach her goal. But she knew UM-Dearborn, which was close to her Dearborn Heights home, was the right first step for her. Ahmad - who indicated her preferred major of biochemistry on her application - later received an email inviting her to consider a new program at the university where she'd get to study, take core classes and do research with other science-focused incoming students.

"And it would cover my tuition," she says. "I've worked my whole life with the goal of caring for people who had hearing issues and now I was going to be able to do it - with added help and for free. It was one of the moments where I wondered if it was too good to be true. I'm here today to say that it was both very good and very true. It's changing my life."

Ahmad is one of 52 students in UM-Dearborn's STEM Scholars Program.

The program - created by Mathematics and Statistics Professor Joan Remski, Biochemistry Professor Emeritus Marliee Benore and Chemistry Professor Dan Lawson in 2021 - looks for ways to get more high talent students from lower-income families into STEM fields like chemistry and engineering, while also increasing the college retention rates for these students on campus. CASL faculty members Patrick Beauchesne and Alan Wiggins also provide teaching support for the STEM Scholars program.

The National Science Foundation awarded the College of Arts, Sciences and Letters faculty in 2021 a six-year $1.44 million grant to bring their vision to life. The program connects students to impactful education practices, like research, cohorts, professional development and more.

"We had noticed that first-to-second year retention rates for FTIACs (first time in any college) Pell-eligible students in STEM majors lagged behind those of their non-Pell eligible counterparts on campus. Looking at the same populations, Pell-eligible students also had lower graduation rates," says Remski, who now serves as associate provost for faculty development and digital learning. "Many of our students work, are responsible for family care, live in underserved areas and are first in their families to go to college. They want an education, but don't have the time or the experience to work through a challenging course. We needed a plan to better support these students."

The program works like this: STEM-focused undergraduate first-year students are selected based on criteria like Pell eligibility, a minimum 3.0 high school GPA, placement into campus' Calculus I or higher, and a major in a STEM-focused program. They study together, receive remote supplemental instruction, meet with peer mentors assigned to classes like Calculus I and General Chemistry, gain professional development through optional workshops and conduct research through a Research Rotations program that's time-flexible with STEM faculty members, receiving a stipend from the grant. Students who qualify and are accepted into the STEM Scholars program will be awarded grants and scholarships toward tuition and fees for four academic years as long as they remain in one of the selected STEM majors and maintain a 2.5 GPA. This means through a combination of the NSF-funded grant and other federal and institutional grant funding, they can essentially earn a STEM undergraduate degree for free.

Now at the program's midpoint - STEM Scholars admitted their third cohort in Fall 2024 - Remski says the approach is working. And it's even better than they could have imagined.

UM-Dearborn's average retention for incoming students is 81% between the first and second years. So Remski and the team initially set a goal of 85% for students in the program.

The early results of the program? The cohorts hit 100% retention in that same time period; all students have remained on the UM-Dearborn campus while getting 90% or higher pass rates in core STEM classes.

The next goal of the program is to have 50% of the STEM Scholars get to graduation. With the initial cohort in its junior year, those numbers aren't in yet - but Remski says the encouraging retention numbers suggest they'll exceed that goal.

"We want to close the graduation gap between Pell-eligible and non-Pell eligible students and have UM-Dearborn Wolverines in low-income situations enter professionally fulfilling STEM careers that create economic stability for themselves and their families," she says. Since most of UM-Dearborn's students remain in the area following graduation, the program could very well help grow Michigan's much-needed STEM workforce too, Remski says. It could help diversify these fields as well, she adds. While the program is not exclusive to women and people of color, it does encourage involvement of underrepresented populations in an effort to bring more diverse voices into the industry.

Majors included in the program are biological sciences, biochemistry, computer & information science, engineering, electrical engineering, industrial and systems engineering, mechanical engineering, computer engineering, mathematics, environmental science, bioengineering and chemistry. Majors were chosen based on industry need, student interest and where in the STEM pipeline UM-Dearborn loses the most students.

"The program has surpassed anything I expected," Remski says. "In this community we've created, these kids are here, thriving and doing really great things in our UM-Dearborn community."

For example, Ahmad - the aspiring otologist/neurotologist - started a Deaf and American Sign Language student organization on campus. At their most recent meeting, she showed people how to sign holiday greetings. "I plan to do auditory-based research my junior year, but this is a way I can reach students now to help connect people to the hearing-impaired community," she explains.

Remski says Ahmad is only one of the exceptional students in the program. But Remski emphasizes that the program is highly inclusive: any student who met the qualifications, applied and interviewed was accepted.

"We have criteria, but are not being overly exclusive," Remski says. "This just shows how talent can be nurtured with the right support systems."

STEM Program Coordinator and Advisor Dina Shohatee, a 2018 College of Engineering and Computer Science graduate, is a key part of that support system. Being a younger alum, Shohatee is a trusted mentor to the STEM Scholars. She not only helps troubleshoot course material challenges or home life concerns, she also develops fun events so the students continue to have bonding experiences in addition to their studies.

For a recent community-building event, Shohatee organized a Friendsgiving. Among the decor, food and games was a strong sense of fellowship. Even though it took place on the Friday before Thanksgiving break, the majority of STEM Scholar students came.

Sophomore Christian Nwobu drove 90 minutes from East Lansing, where he lives, to attend. Nwobu, who plans to major in computer and data science, said he applied to UM-Dearborn because of U-M's reputation. He chose to attend, thanks to the STEM Scholars Program and scholarship. But he is staying because of the friends he's made and the faculty mentors he's gained.

"I wanted to go to Michigan and got information about this program at UM-Dearborn and thought, 'why not?' I like computational math and data science and I saw that UM-Dearborn professors are doing research and are known in their fields," he says. "I really like it at UM-Dearborn. Not only do I like my classes, I've made good friends, get help with figuring out college and how to best prepare for tough classes, and feel really welcome here. It's the right place for me."

Ahmad, who also attended the Friendsgiving event, agrees. And she sees the welcoming nurturing environment she's experienced as a model she will use when she graduates, goes to medical school and gets out into the world.

"I always knew that I wanted to help people, that I want to support them to get what they need. UM-Dearborn is doing that for me. It is something not lost on me and I am very grateful," Ahmad says. "Thanks to the people here, I will go out and share what I've learned in a way that I can make a difference in the world like how my professors and this program are making a difference in mine."

Story by Sarah Tuxbury