Professor Laird believes that this grant will have the added benefit of diversifying the field by bringing in individuals who come from non-traditional science and engineering backgrounds to software engineering settings.
“Consistent with recommendations from the National Science Board, the School of Systems and Enterprises at Stevens Institute of Technology is proud to partner with NSF to help realize the national priority to broaden participation in STEM fields for enhanced national competitiveness,” said Dinesh Verma, SSE dean and executive director of the Systems Engineering Research Center.
NSF’s grant will provide funding for 53 $10,000 scholarships over five years. To qualify, students must demonstrate their quantitative skills evidenced by GRE scores and their GPA in STEM undergraduate courses, be US citizens and require financial assistance. No formal computing background is required.
This is the first NSF sponsored attempt to recruit liberal arts students into software engineering. If successful, the new program will become self-sustaining and replicable across the country.
Students will graduate with an MS in SwE and be well prepared to enter the workforce as software architects, developers, testers, and requirements engineers. The national average salary for software engineers is around $90,000, according to the employment web site Glassdoor.com.
Students are being actively recruited for the first cohort. Visit http://www.stevens.edu/software-LA for details.
Material from a press release was used in this report.
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