Racial Diversity in Science Scholarship

As one of our core values, we believe in the power and promise of science to solve the challenges we face as a global community. Innovation and collaboration are the tools we use to advance life sciences. Cell Signaling Technology recognizes the importance of racial diversity in the workforce and understands that diversity is crucial to encouraging different perspectives and ideas that foster and drive innovation (1,2).

Students of color are underrepresented in STEM programs and courses of study compared to their overall college enrollment rate. There is racial imbalance among students where only 7.6 percent of all STEM bachelor's degrees were obtained by students of color (3). To help drive diversity and innovation, Cell Signaling Technology is proud to offer four, $10,000 scholarships to high school senior students of color in Essex County, Massachusetts that are accepted and enrolled in an undergraduate STEM related major.

1. Sylvia Ann Hewlett, Melinda Marshall, and Laura Sherbin, "How Diversity Can Drive Innovation", Harvard Business Review, Dec 2014
2. Global Diversity and "Inclusion Fostering Innovation Through A Diverse Workforce" , Forbes Insights
3. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d14/tables/dt14_318.45.asp https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/fact-sheet-spurring-african-american-stem-degree-completion#fn01

Eligibility requirements

Eligibility Requirements Scholarship candidates must meet the following eligibility requirements:

1. Must be at least eighteen (18) years of age or the age of majority in jurisdiction of residence at the time of application or documented permission from a parent or legal guardian, if a minor.
2. Must be in 12th grade of high school.
3. Possess strong English skills.
4. Must be attending a four-year public academic Massachusetts high school
   1. Racial Diversity in Science Scholarship: Cities/Towns in Essex County, Massachusetts.
   2. Local Community Scholarship: Lynn, Salem, Peabody, Danvers, Beverly, or Gloucester.
5. Be eligible for free/reduced lunch or be the first in their family to go to college (neither parent went to college). Additional criteria for financial need may be defined by the CST Scholarship Committee if necessary.
   1. Racial Diversity in Science Scholarship: AND identify as a person of color (non-white).
6. By the end of senior year in high school, all scholarship applicants must have completed an upper-level AP class in one of the following courses: biology, chemistry, physics, or environmental science.
7. Scholarship applicants must enroll as a full-time student in a 2 or 4-year accredited US-based college or university and pursue one or more majors in qualified science fields of study. This includes majors from the following areas: Biology, Biochemistry, Chemistry, Environmental Science, Math, Physics, and Engineering.
8. Recipients of the CST scholarship must maintain a GPA 2.8 or higher during their freshman year of college and 3.0 GPA the following three years in college to qualify to continue receiving the annual scholarship.

To be eligible for the Racial Diversity in Science scholarship students must follow the above eligibility requirements and the following additional requirements:

1. Must be attending a four-year public academic high school in the County of Essex in Massachusetts.
2. Must identify as a person of color (non-white).

Recipient’s agree that they will conduct themselves at all times during with due regard to public morals, conventions, and laws, and academic policies and bylaws. If at any time during the years in which they are a scholarship recipient and in CST’s sole opinion, Recipient does any act or conducts themselves in any manner contrary to or in violation of a rule, law, or regulation, offensive to standards of decency, morality, or social propriety resulting in public scandal or ridicule, or should recipient do anything to disparage CST or its products or services, CST will have the right to terminate withdraw the scholarship in its sole discretion. CST recognizes the need to encourage those from a background underrepresented in the fields of science by encouraging the high schools to consider diversity when presenting its scholars.

*If applying to both scholarships, the local community scholarships will be considered first*

Award Conditions