Native Americans in Science, Engineering  and Natural Resources (NASENR)

The goal of NASENR is to increase the number of Native American/Alaskan Native students earning BS degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and who are eligible for graduate school

NASENR at Oregon State University is a collaborative effort between five colleges on campus: the College of Agricultural Sciences, the College of Engineering, the College of Forestry, the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences, and the College of Science.

NASENR was established in 2005 with funds from the five Colleges, from Oregon State University, and from the National Science Foundation to provide paid internship opportunities for Native American and Alaskan Native undergraduate students.

NASENR’s parent program, Native Americans in Marine and Space Sciences (NAMSS), first began in 1990 when few native students were enrolled in STEM majors. Many of those students quickly changed majors because they perceived that they could not pass the mathematics requirements. High-school students and undergraduates were almost completely unaware of STEM coursework and STEM professions in which the practical application of this knowledge is useful. They did not see links to themselves or their culture. Many native students did not complete middle school, and of those who did, few completed high school.

To address this dearth, NAMSS developed a comprehensive network of pre-college, undergraduate, graduate, and community outreach programs that included African American, Hispanic, and Asian American students and program replication at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.  NAMSS has evolved to become more inclusive of the breadth of science curricula offered at OSU – it is now known as the Native Americans in Science, Engineering and Natural Resources Program.

Eligibility and application

Internships

Participants

Background of program (pdf)