SERF students eye STEM curricula
Shanta Armwood Outlaw
September 04, 2012
Elizabeth City State University welcomed 10 students to the Summer Enrichment for Rising Freshmen (SERF) Program. The program is designed to assist students pursuing degrees and careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). For five weeks, the 10 SERF students engage in activities that will prepare them for the rigorous STEM curricula they will encounter as ECSU freshman year. Students who fully participate in the SERF program until their sophomore year are encouraged to apply for the ECSU-Support Program for Academic and Research Enhancement (E-SPARE), a Minority Biomedical Research Support-Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement (MBRS-RISE) program. Students who have been accepted at ECSU and matriculate in the fall semester following their high school graduation are eligible for the SERF summer residential program. During their first semester as freshmen, SERF Scholars are required to participate in all planned activities, including all E-SPARE workshops, seminars and meetings. Freshmen with a grade point average of 3.0 or higher and who are majoring in physics, biology, chemistry, mathematics, psychology, sociology, engineering and technology are eligible to continue as a SERF Mentee after their first semester as a full-time student. This summer, SERF Scholars completed intense research training in the nematology lab of Dr. Eyualem Abebe, associate professor of biology, and in the cell culture and drug discovery lab of Dr. Ephraim Gwebu, professor and chair of the Department of Chemistry, Geology and Physics, who directs the SERF program.