Evergreen awarded $457,000 grant from National Science Foundation

College's E.Coli research also featured nationally

OLYMPIA – In a week where cutting-edge E.Coli research based at The Evergreen State College has been featured by regional and national media, funding from a National Science Foundation grant will award $100,000 in scholarships per academic year to students studying science at the college.

The funding, announced this week, will allow Evergreen to award the need-based scholarships each academic year through 2011 – averaging about 20 students per year.

The NSF grant program – Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics – also provides the college with funding to provide additional academic and student support services for science students.

Dr. Paula Schofield, a chemistry professor at Evergreen, who leads the project as principal investigator, says that the award will help more students finish college.

“This grant enables students who are financially needy and show academic potential the unique opportunity to study interdisciplinary laboratory sciences at The Evergreen State College, without incurring the financial burden associated with going to college,” Schofield said.

Earlier in the week, Evergreen’s Phage Laboratory was featured around the nation for their breakthrough – harmlessly killing E.Coli at its natural source: inside the animals that harbor it.

Evergreen and the NSF both place a high priority on bringing more underrepresented students into the scholarship program’s disciplines.