Giving Compass' Take:

• Chan Zuckerberg Initiative shares the details of their $6.9 million support effort to help underrepresented students into STEM programs at colleges. 

• How can funders learn from efforts of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative? 

• Learn about advancing women in STEM? 

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) announced that it has awarded $6.9 million to support a unique partnership to bring a University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) program to support underrepresented students pursuing careers in science, technology, mathematics, and engineering (STEM) to two University of California campuses. The grants will enable the expansion of aspects of UMBC’s successful Meyerhoff Scholars Program to both UC San Diego and UC Berkeley.

“The key to accelerating discoveries in science or the next tech breakthrough will be dependent on our ability to bring fresh perspectives to STEM fields,” said Priscilla Chan, Co-Founder & Co-CEO of CZI. “California’s openness to new ways of thinking is what has made this state an innovation engine for the world, and the University of California has played a crucial role in that as one of the largest and most diverse public research universities in the country. With these new grants, we hope to help bring even more diversity of perspective and experience to our state — and to Silicon Valley.”

The Meyerhoff program is recognized as one of the most effective models in the country to help inspire, recruit, and retain underrepresented students pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees in STEM fields. Program participants have earned 300 Ph.D. degrees, 130 M.D. degrees, 54 M.D./Ph.D. degrees, and 253 master’s degrees, not counting current enrollment numbers. UMBC is a diverse public research university whose largest demographic groups identify as white and Asian, but which also graduates more African-American students who go on to earn dual M.D.-Ph.D. degrees than any other college in the U.S. — a credit to the Meyerhoff program model.

Read the full article about increasing the diversity of STEM students at Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.