Driving Research, Entrepreneurship, and Academics through Mastering STEM (DREAM STEM)
Project Overview
Science Entrepreneurship in DREAM STEM
The Driving Research, Entrepreneurship, and Academics through Mastering STEM (DREAM STEM) project elevates science entrepreneurship on NCCU campus by providing multi-phased, multi-path, entrepreneurial thinking extra-curricular activities to STEM majors. This is a mastery opportunity that provides solidly structured, multi-point access entrepreneurial thinking development through immersive self-directed learning experiences.
Undergraduate Research Experiences in DREAM STEM
DREAM STEM provides a structured, formalized approach of teaching students the practice of effective research engagement through its deliberate design of activities aimed toward developing students’ disciplinary knowledge, research abilities, and team skills.
Research, Discovery, Innovation Summer Institute in DREAM STEM
The Research, Discovery, and Innovation (RDI) Summer Institute is a design and science entrepreneurship program that is offered at North Carolina Central University to high school seniors who have been accepted for admission to a STEM degree program at the university. The RDI Summer Institute provides experiential learning in the research-design-build part of the entrepreneurship cycle to enhance science competence through creative design and discovery of new technologies and products. The RDI Summer Institute is also a path into Science Entrepeneurship in DREAM STEM.
Scholarships in DREAM STEM
The DREAM STEM project accentuates students’ science identity through earned academic scholarships, honors, and awards; participation in undergraduate research experiences; and exposure and recognition in attending and presenting their work at national professional meetings.
Students are actively engaged in their learning of science and mathematics subject matter by committed STEM faculty who are supported to implement and assess new and promising pedagogical strategies. Through competitive selection, DREAM STEM scholars are awarded performance-based scholarships as a motivational strategy to sustain high-quality outcomes. Performance scholarship award levels for recipients would be adjusted at selected assessment points before the next disbursement.