Northeastern fair aims to draw minority grad students

 

At the Curry Student Center, undergraduates learned
about graduate opportunities during the Regional Graduate
School Fair. 

By Jason Kornwitz

Northeastern recently held a regional fair to introduce underrepresented students to academic and financial opportunities available in graduate programs, especially at the Ph.D. level.

The university and the Massachusetts Consortium of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Programs hosted the third annual Regional Graduate School Fair and Getting Ready for Advanced Degrees Lab.

On Sept. 27 in the Curry Student Center Ballroom, representatives of the College of Engineering, the College of Arts and Sciences and the provost’s office hosted nearly 100 students from seven top-tier institutions of higher education, including Northeastern, Boston University, Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Tufts University, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and the Worcester Polytechnic Institute. 

Undergraduates learned of funding opportunities through the National GEM Consortium, a nonprofit corporation that provides talented underrepresented students from the aforementioned schools with graduate fellowships in science, technology, engineering and math.

“As a member of the National GEM Consortium and regional partner for the Massachusetts Consortium, Northeastern was able to provide a leadership role by bringing many of the nation's top universities and research institutions to our campus in a combined effort to identify and attract underrepresented graduate level students,” said Richard Harris, director of Northeastern’s Program in Multicultural Engineering. “In essence, we are doing our part of mining diamonds to prepare them as possible GEMs.”

Participants gained insight from graduate students, faculty and members of GEM who addressed a wide range of issues during panel discussions. Topics included the challenges facing underrepresented students, effective approaches toward applying to graduate school, the importance of undergraduate research and internship experiences and the ways in which earning a Ph.D. helps build a successful career and allows candidates to become key contributors to scientific and technological developments.

Kwamina Panford, Northeastern’s associate vice provost for academic opportunity and diversity and the university’s key representative for the GEM Consortium, said the event allowed undergraduate students to learn in a hands-on manner the specifics of applying successfully to graduate school. The true value of graduate-level education and degrees, especially with funding opportunities readily available through scholarships, can not be overlooked, he said.

“With the costs of graduate school skyrocketing, it is timely to have brought the GEM GRAD Lab to Northeastern to demonstrate in a proactive way to economically disadvantaged students how exactly they can get funded through GEM and other scholarships,” Panford said.

Luis Falcon, vice provost for graduate education at Northeastern, spoke on the value and significance of taking advantage of the key resources and support systems available to assist with students’ efforts to earn advanced degrees.

“Growing the number of underrepresented graduate students in engineering and the sciences is critically important for Northeastern as an academic institution,” said Falcon. “Every effort we make in that direction will positively affect the representation of members of minority groups in positions of leadership in industry and, hopefully, also in academic positions.”

In addition to Northeastern, representatives from 24 other educational institutions, including the Princeton University School of Engineering & Applied Science, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the University of Wisconsin attended the event with the hopes of recruiting students to their programs for either GEM Fellowships or other fellowship or assistantship opportunities.

Panford, who noted that last year a Northeastern student secured a full graduate school scholarship through GEM, also said the university will shortly begin examining GEM applications from the top graduate school prospects who maintain an average GPA of 3.5.
“GEM programs such as the Graduate School Fair are some of the most efficient and effective recruiting tools we have made available to Northeastern,” Panford said.