Catherine Lee, Emma Luparello and Julie Merritt will each receive a $21,900 scholarship for each of the next two years while working toward teacher licensure as part of their studies in mathematics and the natural sciences.
Elon University juniors Catherine Lee, Emma Luparello and Julie Merritt have been chosen to participate in the university’s Noyce Scholars Program, which comes with a $21,900 scholarship for each of their final two years at the university.
The Noyce Scholars Program encourages talented science, technology, engineering and mathematics majors to complete a teacher education program and earn teacher licensure in addition to a bachelor’s degree in mathematics or the sciences.
Lee, the first transfer student to participate in the Noyce Scholars Program since its inception, will pursue a degree in biology with teacher licensure. She is a graduate of Williams High School in Burlington, North Carolina, and transferred to Elon from Virginia Tech and Alamance Community College.
Luparello, a mathematics major from Alexandria, Virginia, and Merritt, a mathematics major from Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, join Lee and the eight additional Noyce Scholars, including the 2014 first graduating class: Crystal Edwards (mathematics), Emily Liberatore (biology) and Madelyne Rooney (mathematics).
A $1.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation is supporting the program at Elon University and will bolster the number of math and science teachers Elon graduates in the years ahead through a partnership with the Alamance-Burlington School System and Elon Academy. The five-year NSF funding at Elon covers scholarships of $21,900 each year. In exchange for the scholarships, students agree to work four years in high-need school systems.
The national Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program provides funds to institutions of higher education “to support scholarships, stipends, and academic programs for undergraduate STEM majors and post-baccalaureate students holding STEM degrees who earn a teaching credential and commit to teaching in high-need K-12 school districts.”
In addition to the scholarship program, Noyce funds support 50 paid, education-related summer internships during the five-year program for Elon freshmen and sophomores majoring in math or the sciences.
For more information on the Elon Noyce Scholars Program, visit http://www.elon.edu/noyce