Golden Valley Native Receives STEM Scholarship

Sarah Voeller of Golden Valley, has been awarded a scholarship through a National Science Foundation grant for 2012-13 academic year.

Voeller is majoring in applied science.

The scholarships are part of a $567,000 NSF S-STEM grant awarded in 2009 to Kitrina Carlson and Krista James from the biology department at UW-Stout. S-STEM stands for Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

Other scholarships were awarded in 2010 and 2011 as part of the same grant.

Carlson and James applied for the grant to increase access to science education, calling their S-STEM project "Polytechnic Mission, Applied Science Vision."

"The NSF S-STEM scholarship dollars have allowed us to recruit and retain some of the best science students in the region," Carlson said. "More importantly, with these dollars we can offer greater access to higher education in the sciences."

Scholarship winners must be enrolled full time, show financial need and meet other requirements.

Along with the funding, scholars receive academic benefits by meeting bi-monthly with their advisers, attending monthly applied science scholars meetings, partnering with advanced applied science scholars and acting as peer mentors during their second year in the program.

The applied science program at UW-Stout offers five concentrations: biotechnology, environmental science, materials science, nanoscience and preprofessional programs.

Information provided by the University of Wisconsin-Stout.