Programs to Broaden Participation
in scientific disciplines
our mission
College of Science partners with university wide efforts and initiatives to support our science students and faculty. Through partnership, we work to coordinate a comprehensive program that advances the College of Science’s efforts to recruit, retain, and invest in students and faculty.
To support Virginia Tech’s Beyond Boundaries strategic plan and the Virginia Tech Advantage;
To recruit and prepare undergraduate students for graduate degree programs and for scientific careers;
To increase the awareness of the scientific disciplines, and possible career paths, to students in the state of Virginia and beyond;
To provide academic support and community building activities.
Undergraduate Students
Our undergraduate initiatives focus on providing students academic support, community building, and career readiness. Join our Broadening Participation in Science newsletter for most up to date information.
Our team hosts workshops to support students’ classroom learning. We partner with offices on campus to help you find undergraduate research, craft the perfect resume, and get hired over the summer!
It can be difficult to make connections during class, so the College of Science hosts Community Nights for students across campus. We partner with the Cultural & Community Centers, the Women’s Center, First Generation Student Support and more to provide a range of spaces for students to connect.
We know the transition into college can be challenging and we want to provide students with the support they need. First year students who opt into our peer mentoring program will meet with their peer mentor, an upperclassman with a similar academic background, once a week for the first 13 weeks of the semester. Incoming freshmen should check their Virginia Tech email for more information the summer before they arrive on campus.
We host an Undergraduate Research Mixer once a semester. At this mixer, faculty and graduate students present their research to undergraduates to recruit students for their labs. Finding undergraduate research can be daunting, so our mixer breaks down barriers between faculty and students and facilitates the research process.
Virginia Tech was selected in 2023 to join cohort four of the First Scholars Network in the third phase of a four-phase model. The network is the nation’s leading higher education community of practice for sharing data, modeling innovations, and scaling impact to first-generation student support. The College of Science is an active participant in Virginia Tech's First Scholars Leadership Team, working to make science accessible to everyone, no matter their family's background.
