Iona College Receives Grant to Support STEM Scholarships

NEW ROCHELLE, NY — Iona College has been awarded a grant to support scholarships for undergraduate students majoring in chemistry and computer science.

The National Science Foundation grant in the amount of $649,631 will go toward creating a program called DESIRE — Development of Excellence in Science through Intervention, Resilience and Enrichment, according to a college spokesman.

Through the program, Iona will be able to support students with financial need and high academic aptitude.

The grant is part of the foundation’s S-STEM Program to increase the number of college students pursuing education and careers in science, technology, engineering and math.

From the press release:

"I am very excited that this award will allow us to recruit, support and retain academically capable but financially needy students,” said Sunghee Lee, Ph.D., Iona College Board of Trustees endowed professor and chair of Chemistry. “All scholars will be supported through cohort activities carefully designed to support students' quality experience in the interdisciplinary fields of chemistry and computer science. We hope our program will provide an exemplary model that can be adapted to many other higher education disciplines and demonstrate successful STEM graduates.”

In addition to Dr. Lee, the award was obtained by co-principal investigators Kathleen Kristian, Ph.D., assistant professor of Inorganic Chemistry; Lubomir Ivanov Ph.D., professor of Computer Science; Smiljana Petrovic, Ph.D., professor of Computer Science; and Mychel Varner, Ph.D., assistant professor of Chemistry, along with senior project team personnel Katherine Zaromatidis, Ph.D., associate professor of Psychology; Thomas J. Van Cleave, Ed.D., director of Service and Experiential Learning; Jason Diffenderfer, director of Institutional Effectiveness and Planning; and Bernadette Wright, Ph.D., external evaluator, Meaningful Evidence, LLC.

"The S-STEM grant represents an outstanding opportunity for select motivated students to achieve academic, professional and personal success at Iona by working in close collaboration with faculty from the Computer Science and Chemistry departments,” Dr. Ivanov said. “The students will engage in cutting-edge research on faculty-led interdisciplinary projects, which have the potential to further scientific knowledge and to benefit people everywhere. For the S-STEM faculty, the grant presents an excellent opportunity to work with bright students and to be able to influence their academic and professional careers."

Patch file photo.