NSF MASTER STEM SCHOLARS PROGRAM
Finally, Rachel Mahun received the Dean’ s Award for her pioneering work with WEMS and lifetime of contribution to the UW-Platteville College of EMS community. Mahun’ s career was one of firsts— in 1980, she joined the Civil Engineering department as their first woman faculty member, and in 1987, she became the first woman to earn tenure in an engineering field at UW-Platteville. A graduate of UW-Madison, Mahun taught a wide variety of courses over the years, and in 1993 began work as the first Director of the Women in Engineering Program( now WEMS). A dedicated contributor to the school, Mahun continues to teach General Engineering 1000 and other courses as-needed. The College of EMS is grateful to Mahun for her many contributions and is pleased to recognize her work on behalf of women in engineering.
Mahun’ s enthusiasm for teaching comes from a vast wealth of career experience, including time spent working for the US Geological Survey, the Minnesota Dept. of Transportation, Ayres & Associates, and the Edgerton school district as a middle school substitute teacher.
NSF MASTER STEM SCHOLARS PROGRAM
The Distance Learning Center( DLC) is celebrating the second annual group of recipients of the National Science Foundation’ s Master STEM Scholars award, a novel program which focuses on the support of STEM students who are pursuing Masters degrees online. This under-supported group often struggles to find applicable scholarships, and the Master STEM Scholars program opens a pathway to study that might otherwise remain closed to students with full-time work and family obligations— students like Orion Boldon, who works in EPA compliance for Dow Chemical while pursuing her Master of Science in Engineering from UW-Platteville Online.“ The [ UW-Platteville online ] program caught my attention due to its vast benefits such as networking with other career professionals, mentorship the opportunity to network with other STEM scholars,” Bolden says.
Through the 5-year grant program, which began in 2015, UW-Platteville’ s Distance Learning Center can now offer NSF scholarships to our online Masters students in Project Management, Engineering, and Integrated Supply Chain Management. The DLC awards 10-12 scholarships every year to eligible students, but the award extends well beyond the financial.“ For the first year of the program, those who have been selected to the NSF STEM Master Scholar Program receive a peer mentor and a champion who is working in their field for the first year of the program. In addition, they attend Scholar Spots in which a guest speaker provides insights to the scholars on topics pertaining to today’ s industry,” explains Lisa Naderman of the Distance Learning Center. Additionally, the DLC is working hard to expand mentoring options for these determined students, with the goal of launching a virtual career fair within the next year. Boldon, who lives in Houston, says the Master STEM Scholars award has made attending UW-Platteville even easier:“ I know that this program will help me achieve my goals by providing mentorship, networking with classmates, and the support and guidance needed to fulfill my goals.” Congratulations to all the worthy and inspiring scholarship recipients!