Bellarmine University Creates New Scholarship Program for Low-Income Students

Bellarmine University is creating a scholarship program to recruit low-income, high-achieving students into several STEM fields using an approximately $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

The STEM fields are computer engineering, computer science, mathematics and data science.

“The STEM Career Pathways Scholarship program will award annual scholarships of $7,200 each to two groups of 11 low-income, academically talented students for four years—one beginning in Fall 2021 and the second in Fall 2022,” said university officials.

The program will provide internships or research opportunities and help students get STEM jobs or enter graduate programs within six months of graduation. The school will work with Jefferson County Public Schools’ career and technical academies to recruit students.

Eight community partners have agreed to work with Bellarmine on the program so far. They are Appriss Inc., edjAnalytics, El Toro, Humana, LG&E, Masonic Home Kentucky, GE Appliances and the Microsoft Future of Work Initiative.

More STEM graduates will help fulfill local industry needs in technology. Louisville Forward, the city’s economic development agency – which has also formed a partnership with Bellarmine – aims to add 6,000 local technology jobs by 2023.