Loyola receives $2 million NSF grant to empower STEM scholars

Loyola University Maryland has been awarded a $2 million, six-year grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation to establish the Empowering STEM Scholars for Success (Empowered Scholars) program. 

The program is designed to support talented students with financial need who are majoring in biology, biochemistry, chemistry, engineering or forensic science.

The grant will fund student scholarships, personal laptops and curricular support through faculty, peer and industry mentoring. The grant also will build scholar cohorts through pre-college orientation, small-group tutoring, regular cohort events and a specialized experience for STEM scholars. The program will operate through Messina, the university’s first-year program.

The grant is part of the NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (S-STEM) program. The S-STEM program supports institutions of higher education to fund scholarships for academically talented, low-income STEM majors and to study and implement a program of activities that support their recruitment, retention and graduation.

“The Empowered Scholars program is impactful in several ways and for everyone involved,” said Dr. Armina Kazi, associate professor of biology and principal investigator for the grant, in a media release. “First and foremost, it will improve the economic and career prospects of these students by preparing them with the knowledge, technical skills and career training needed to be leaders in these in-demand STEM fields.

“It will also create a pipeline of highly qualified applicants ready to meet the workforce needs of employers, particularly those partnering with Loyola,” Kazi said. “Lastly, the collaborative, multifaceted and comprehensive design of the program reflects Loyola’s values: community, academic excellence, a constant challenge to improve, care for the whole person and discernment.”

The Empowered Scholars program will support two separate cohorts of 12 students each over a five- to six-year period. Scholarships will be awarded beginning in fall 2026.

The grant was secured by Kazi, along with co-principal investigators Dr. Robert Bailey, professor of engineering; Dr. Bahram Roughani, associate dean of natural and applied sciences and professor of physics; Dr. Kyle Lunsford, assistant teaching professor of chemistry; and Dr. Rhys Williams, assistant professor of forensic science.

Additional activities for scholars will include seminars and networking with industry partners, on-site visits to regional STEM organizations such as the Maryland Tech Council, and assessment and professional skills workshops at the university’s Rizzo Career Center. 

The Empowered Scholars program at Loyola hopes to build upon the Hyman Science Scholars Program. Endowed by a gift from the late Mary Bloom Hyman, longtime Loyola educator and benefactor of the largest-ever employee gift to the university, Hyman Science Scholars major in computer science, mathematics, statistics, data science and physics. The Hyman Science Scholars program began as the CPaMS Scholars Program with a 2015 NSF grant.

“In the last 10 years, we have doubled the number of students majoring in STEM at Loyola,” Roughani said. “That growth requires more resources. The Empowered Scholars program supports the university’s strategic goals by promoting growth in STEM and health, enhancing student and faculty support, improving four- and six-year graduation rates, and expanding experiential learning opportunities.”

The overall goal of the Empowered Scholars program is to increase STEM degree completion of students with demonstrated financial need.   

“My hope is that students who could not have found a way to attend Loyola can now do so and that, building on what they learn and experience in this program, they will go on to do great things in both their chosen fields and their lives,” Bailey said.

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