Brain STEMs

For four days before orientation began, 60 first-year Emory College students met with professors, administrators, and mentors for an in-depth introduction to the science and technology fields they intend to pursue.

The STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) Pathways pre-orientation program is designed to give guidance and support for students who are the first generation in their families to attend college, or who are in identity groups that are underrepresented in technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers. The program, new this year, replaces and builds upon the legacy of two previous pre-college programs that boost both students and Emory.

The students gain a deeper understanding of the wide array of opportunities available within Emory College’s liberal arts curriculum, as well as developing a personal action plan for their academic careers, with sessions on study skills and developing a five-year plan.

Emory, meanwhile, continues to grow its diverse community of student scholars, many of whom will fill the one million new STEM jobs that the US Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts by 2022—just two years after the students earn their undergraduate degrees.

“We know that going into these areas of study it will be very rigorous, so we want to break down as many barriers as possible, so all of our students are successful,” says Julie Loppacher, an associate director in the Office for Undergraduate Education who helped develop the program curriculum.