Jessica Lusk receives S-STEM scholarship

2013 Oct 21

Jessica Lusk of Coon Valley, Wis., received a Stars scholarship. Lusk is majoring in environmental science.

Lusk is one of 27 students who is attending or plans to attend the University of Wisconsin-Stout. A total of $146,280 has been awarded in scholarships for the 2013-14 academic year through a National Science Foundation grant.

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

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.

“We're honored to have these excellent students with diverse backgrounds and from across the region choose our program, and we're hopeful that the UW-Stout environmental science and applied science programs can serve as a model for other STEM programs across the country for providing equitable access to education.”

The S-STEM scholarships were awarded recently by UW-Stout, Wisconsin’s Polytechnic University, in two categories, Future Leader scholarships and Stars scholarships.

Future Leaders scholarships were awarded to five students in the environmental science or applied science programs.

Stars scholarships were awarded to 22 current students or new students in the environmental science or applied science programs. Stars scholarships are not renewable.

Scholarship winners must be enrolled full time, show financial need and demonstrate academic success and leadership. Along with the funding, scholars receive academic benefits by meeting monthly with their advisers, partnering with advanced environmental science and applied science scholars and acting as peer mentors during their second year in the program.

Beth Boisen, Office of Financial Aid, assisted in the process of awarding the scholarships.