Projects Try to Prepare Students To Succeed at STEM in College

When faculty members at the State University of New York at Albany were searching for answers as to why so few undergraduates were completing degrees in science and mathematics, they looked at students’ struggles right out of the gate.

Many freshmen, they found, were flunking or dropping out of the introductory biology, chemistry, and calculus courses that are the foundations of those studies.

University officials are now moving to help those college newcomers with increased tutoring and mentoring. But they also plan to begin earlier, by counseling high school students and families about the potential benefits of a math or science major—and what the expectations are for studying those subjects...