# WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY SCIENCE PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM - BUILDING STEM CAREER READINESS IN K-12 STUDENTS

> **NIH NIH R25** · WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $135,484

## Abstract

The U.S. has fallen behind several countries in STEM competiveness, where K-12 students are
less proficient in science and math and earn fewer bachelor degrees in STEM than countries
such as China and Korea. The maintenance of the U.S. economy relies heavily on innovation
and technology. As well as our health systems rely on the discoveries of scientists and
physicians. Thus STEM and health are critical to our nations welfare. Improving the education
and STEM experiences for all students, but namely underrepresented minorities (URM) is also
critical to our economy and healthcare as our country is projected to become a majority minority
nation. We are proposing a program that will prepare low-income, URM high school students
for careers in STEM and health. The Washington University Science Partnership Program will
be housed at the McDonnell Genome Institute at Washington University in St. Louis and will
partner with the Jennings School District, a largely African-American school district in St. Louis
County. In this project we have proposed two aims to address the critical need for improved
STEM education for URM. In Aim 1, we proposed to develop skills in these students in
genomics and bioinformatics through authentic STEM experiences, both in class and through
research internships. Science and health are approaching the era of personalized medicine due
in part to the decoding of the human genome and the discoveries made as a result. However
skilled persons in genomics and bioinformatics are in short supply compared to the demand and
are especially lacking in URM groups. So this aim will seek to fulfill a direct need in science and
prepare students for future, relatively lucrative jobs. In Aim 2 we will conduct workshops that
focus on college and job readiness in STEM that will walk students through the process of
applying to college as well as introduce them to the wide variety of career options in STEM. In
total our proposed program is poised to increase the number of URM, namely African-
Americans who enter college in STEM fields and who are retained in STEM and obtain careers
in these fields. Our program directly addresses national priorities in STEM education: providing
authentic research experiences to K-12 students, engaging underrepresented students in STEM
and enhancing the STEM workforce.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10251025
- **Project number:** 5R25GM129227-05
- **Recipient organization:** WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** James Benjamin Skeath
- **Activity code:** R25 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $135,484
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-09-01 → 2023-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10251025

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10251025, WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY SCIENCE PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM - BUILDING STEM CAREER READINESS IN K-12 STUDENTS (5R25GM129227-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10251025. Licensed CC0.

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