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With a $10 million federal grant and an eye on community colleges, CU Engineering and partners aim to diversify engineering in Colorado鈥攁nd coast to coast.

CU Boulder will take a leading role on a new $10 million federal grant to boost the number of community college students who go on to study engineering at four-year colleges, a move intended to help pave the way for a more diverse engineering workforce.

In the United States millions of students finish high school ill-prepared in math, the language of engineering, despite their aptitude for it. If they enroll at a community college鈥攁s many low-income, first-generation, minority and working college students do鈥攖hey鈥檙e often so far behind that it鈥檚 hard to gain proficiency for timely transfer to a four-year engineering degree program.

The CU Boulder team and partners aim to help community college students study math intensively by providing specialized resources, such as tutoring and STEM internships, and by lowering common barriers, such as financial aid and access to appropriate transportation and childcare.

鈥淪ociety needs more engineers, and more diversity in engineering,鈥� said Sarah Miller, one of CU Boulder's听principal investigator and an assistant dean in the College of Engineering, who is directing the $10 million National Science Foundation-funded initiative in partnership with Saddleback College. 鈥淎merica鈥檚 community colleges have a vast trove of talented students, and we need to make the pathway to engineering for them accessible. We are providing intensive and accelerated support for students to succeed in calculus, which has been a roadblock for far too many promising engineers. We鈥檙e saying 鈥楢ll hands on deck. We know you can do the math, and we鈥檙e going to support you along the way so you are able to choose an engineering career.鈥欌�澨�

Miller and Saddleback College鈥檚 Jim Zoval are听leading the project, one of five announced Sept. 6 by NSF as part of its program, which aims to broaden participation in STEM fields.听Saddleback College, a听community college in Mission Viejo,听Calif., is the lead institution. , a non-profit that has reimagined traditional education models and developed the intensive math model that will be implemented at partner organizations, is a central collaborator.

Among public engineering universities, CU Boulder鈥檚 College of Engineering and听Applied Science has placed a particularly high premium on diversity. The entering undergraduate class is expected to be more than 40 percent women, compared with a national average of about 20 percent. Efforts are also underway to significantly increase the percentage of first-generation and minority engineering students. One way of doing this is to identify, cultivate and recruit from highly diverse pools of community college students.

Prospective transfer students tour CU Engineering, including the , in fall 2018.

CU Boulder will be working closely with three Colorado community colleges鈥擟ommunity College of Aurora, Pikes Peak Community College and听Red Rocks Community College鈥攑lus two in New Mexico. Together they鈥檒l implement programs that provide students with access to academic support services, internships and an institutional expert who will help manage crises that can hinder success. Saddleback will work primarily with community colleges in California, Maryland and Washington.

鈥淲e鈥檙e serious about broadening our community,鈥� said Bobby Braun, dean of CU Boulder鈥檚 College of Engineering and听Applied Science. 鈥淒iversity among engineers makes for better engineering. This important project is going to foster long-term diversity in our program at CU Boulder and many other communities in Colorado and around the nation.鈥�

CU Boulder and Saddleback are building off of prior, pilot听.听CU leaders from the听BOLD Center, the听Center for STEM Learning听and the听College of Engineering and Applied Science, used the first, two-year听grant to develop partnerships with Colorado community colleges that made transferring to CU Boulder easier for students. The听new grant will enable CU Boulder, led by Miller and co-principal investigator Janet Yowell,听and its partners to expand a successful model supporting calculus-readiness to 15 new community colleges in Colorado, California, Maryland, New Mexico and Washington.听

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Maria Kuntz is the assistant director for communications, inclusion and community in the College of Engineering & Applied Science.