The Graduate School, the Frank Batten College of Engineering and Technology and the College of Sciences at Old Dominion University recently joined the National Consortium for Graduate Degrees for Minorities (GEM) to increase opportunities for underrepresented groups seeking advanced STEM degrees.
GEM recruits high-performing, underrepresented minority undergraduates in STEM fields who aim to pursue master's and doctoral degrees, while matching them with industry and government internships. A GEM student's average undergraduate GPA exceeds 3.5, and more than 80% of those who complete advanced degrees accept full-time employment with their internship providers, which include Amazon, SpaceX, 3M, Corning, Ford Motor Company, IBM, Qualcomm, Medtronic, the Institute for Defense Analyses, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory among others.
More than 120 higher education institutions are members of the consortium, including the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, Virginia Commonwealth University and Norfolk State University.
"We are excited to be Joining the GEM Consortium," said Robert Wojtowicz, vice provost and dean of the Graduate School. "This will help to diversify and strengthen our graduate student population and enhance our overall institutional profile."
For more information about GEM, please contact Elizabeth Smith, the Graduate School's interdisciplinary initiatives administrator, at exsmith@odu.edu.
