ORLANDO, Fla. — A new partnership at the University of Central Florida plans to unleash the potential of Hispanic graduate students who want to become leaders in the tech workforce.

What You Need To Know

  • A $250,000 grant was awarded to UCF to attract more graduate students into STEM programs

  • UCF is working to help cultivate more job opportunities for Latinos after graduation

  • Applications from undergraduate students are currently being reviewed for acceptance into the program

With the help of a $250,000 grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the academic consortium wants to cultivate engineering and science opportunities to increase the success rates of Latino graduate students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) majors.

Undergraduates chosen for the program at UCF will receive a stipend to be used in the summer months to perform research in their chosen field of study.

Dr. John Weishampel, who heads up the efforts, said there are not enough Hispanics going into graduate STEM programs.

“If we look at Latinos entering graduate STEM programs, it’s a fraction of what it should be," Weishampel said. "The number of stem Ph.D.’s, in STEM that graduated in 2020 were about 2,000. Given our demographics, it should be around 4,000.”

Weishampel has been teaching biology at UCF for more than 20 years and said applications for the program are currently being taken and reviewed.

Randy Amil recently transferred from the University of Florida to UCF for graduate school. He said he made the move because he feels UCF has more diversity on campus.

“And when I’m doing my graduate classes, there is a lot of diversity and thought. People from all around the world. And the undergraduate population does amazing things here,” Amil said.

Amil has teamed up with Weishampel to help coordinate the project to find and advise more Latinos for STEM programs.

“So, once we get our students this fall, I will be helping the students with their applications as well as their professional and career development onwards into the future,” he said.

UCF has partnered with Florida International University and the University of South Florida on the pilot program.

If the program is successful, $500,000 will be available for the project next time around.