The National Science Foundation has awarded SUNY Fredonia a four-year, $400,000 grant through its Computer Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Scholarship Program (CSEMS) to recruit gifted students in mathematics or computer science by offering $3,000 scholarships.
 
Students in the SUNY Fredonia Cooperative Engineering program majoring in mathematics or computer science will also be eligible. In addition, $40,000 will be used over the four-year period for recruitment purposes, educational programming and to expand internship and research opportunities for MACS students.
 
“We’re very happy,” said Dr. Joseph Straight, a Professor of Mathematical Sciences at SUNY Fredonia. One of four SUNY Fredonia educators – including Principal Investigator Dr. Ziya Arnavut and Dr. Junaid Zubairi of the Department of Computer Science and Dr. Meral Arnavut of the Department of Mathematical Sciences – who worked to earn the grant funding, he added, “This is a tribute to the quality of the programs we already have, and it will allow us to kick it up a notch and continue to improve in the future.”
 
The first round of $3,000 scholarships may be available for current sophomores and juniors as early as this semester.
 
SUNY Fredonia officials expect that the $400,000 NSF MACS scholarship program will increase its enrollment in Mathematics and Computer Science, improve retention of those students, increase internship opportunities, and help prepare students for competitive graduate programs and professional careers.
 
A 12-person advisory board comprised of SUNY Fredonia faculty and staff members and representatives from the local and national business communities will oversee the project. Notable board members include Richard Alexander of the Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency; Guven Yalcintas, Director of Technology Transfer for the SUNY Research Foundation; Richard Checcini, president of the Libera Corporation; SUNY Fredonia alumnus David Lemmon, an associate software engineer for Lockheed-Martin; and Kurt Maytum, president/CTO of DFT Communications.
 
For more information on an education in Computer and Information Sciences at SUNY Fredonia, call (716) 673-3243 or visit the webpage. To learn more about the Department of Mathematical Sciences, call (716) 673-3243 or go to the webpage.