What Do We Aim to Achieve?
“By the end of four years with the Simons STEM Scholars program our students are equipped to serve the community of New York and beyond through communication, research and life skills that they develop in their time here. Our hope is that our scholars go on to achieve a PhD or MD/Phd in their given field and advance the research in ways which advances community equity through STEM related developments. We often tell our students it’s not just about learning how to build a bridge, or how to sequence proteins to develop new vaccines, it's about how these developments will affect the communities they are deployed into. Most importantly, it is knowing how to use these advancements to support the people that need them most”
- PhD. Erwin Cabrera, Simons STEM Scholars Program Executive Director
A Deeper Dive: Why this program? Why this institution?
A Brief History of the Simons and Stony Brook
Dr. Jim Simons graduated from UC Berkeley with his PhD in Mathematics and came across the country to accept a position with the Institute of Defense Analysis while also teaching at MIT and Harvard. Staying true to his strong ethical foundations, Dr. Simons was publically against the Vietnam War. For his advocacy, Dr. Simons was forced to leave this position where he then would become the first ever chair of the Math Department at Stony Brook University. In his time at Stony Brook, Dr. Simons met his wife Dr. Marilyn Simons and later found outstanding success in the stock market. The Simons would start the Simons Foundation in 1994 and proceed to make countless charitable contributions to math and science for that point until the present.
How did The Simons STEM Scholars Program come to be?
In May of 2022 the Simons announced a 56.6 Million Dollar gift to Stony Brook University in order to bolster and improve the pathway to STEM careers for historically underrepresented students in those fields. Leadership from the Simons Foundation had this to say;
We need scientists and mathematicians who are reflective of our diverse world, and the scientific and educational communities must work together to find, train, and support underrepresented scientists and mathematicians. That’s why the foundation is making its largest investment yet in diversity through the Stony Brook Simons STEM Scholars Program. Stony Brook University has shown a real commitment already to access and opportunity. They’re our ideal partners in this. - Simons Foundation president David Spergel
We’re proud to see the foundation taking steps to increase diversity in STEM fields. The support network, tight-knit community, and sense of belonging that students will find in this program will be life-changing. We’re incredibly proud to be part of a program like this, with positive implications not just for Stony Brook, but for New York State and the broader scientific and mathematical communities - Jim and Marilyn Simons, co-founders and co-chairs of the Simons Foundation
There is a major need for programs like the Stony Brook Simons STEM Scholars Program to address the lack of diversity in STEM fields. STEM careers have seen a 79 percent growth in employment in the past 30 years, making STEM one of the fastest growing segments of the U.S. workforce. Yet Black, Hispanic and Native American/Pacific Islander workers only make up 17 percent of the U.S. STEM workforce, compared to 28 percent of the total workforce. Only 12 percent of full-time faculty at PhD-granting institutions are Black, Hispanic or Native American/Pacific Islander, a disparity that also exists in STEM higher education programs.
Historically underrepresented college and university students are much more likely
to switch from a STEM major to another course of study than their peers. Forty percent
of Black STEM students switch their major during their undergraduate years, compared
to 29 percent of white STEM students, and Black STEM students are also twice as likely
as their white peers to leave college without a degree. Just 7 percent of all STEM
Bachelor’s degrees were awarded to Black students in 2018.
Since 2004, the foundation has given more than $200 million to Math for America, a nonprofit organization that builds communities of accomplished math and science teachers. Its New York City fellowship program represents nearly 10 percent of the city’s STEM teaching population. The organization had its most diverse incoming cohort in history in 2021 with more than 50 percent teachers of color. The foundation also made a $4 million gift to CUNY Graduate Center to diversify astrophysics education.
The Stony Brook Simons STEM Scholars program is modeled after the renowned University of Maryland, Baltimore County's (UMBC) Meyerhoff Scholars Program. Using this model in conjunction with the 56.6 Million dollar gift from the Simons Foundation Stony Brook positions itself to be on the forefront of resolving the inequalities in STEM representation in the global workforce.
