Cornell’s College of Engineering has received a five-year, $908,000 grant from a joint National Science Foundation, Intel and GE program that aims to increase retention of undergraduates in engineering and computer science majors.

The $10 million grant program, called Graduate 10K+, named Cornell one of nine awardees and will support the new Cornell University Engineering Success (CUES) Program. The program will be led by principal investigator Alan Zehnder, associate dean for diversity and faculty development and professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, and co-PI Sara Hernandez, director of the college’s Diversity Programs in Engineering.

CUES will implement three research-backed interventions: a spatial reasoning course, an engineering math institute and enhanced tutoring. These efforts will start with students’ freshman year and continue through graduation, according to the program proposal.

The spatial reasoning course will focus on a foundational skill needed for success in “gateway” math and science classes. The engineering math institute will give students a chance to get back on track in the core math curriculum and to gain exposure to learning through discovery in a research context. Finally, enhanced tutoring will support the success of engineering majors where retention data highlights attrition problems.

The program will be especially aimed at supporting underrepresented minority and first-generation college students – populations that often suffer from greater attrition in engineering and computer science majors. A goal of CUES will be to raise the graduation rates of these targeted populations so they match those of the overall engineering population.

Graduate 10K+ encourages a model of early intervention for students who struggle with first- and second-year core curricula in math and engineering disciplines, which often cause students to drop out of engineering and computer science majors.

The three proposed interventions of CUES, which will be closely linked with existing support programs, will help students at points where both the literature and experience at Cornell show it is most needed.

The program is funded with $10 million in donations from Intel and the GE Foundation, as well as a donation from Mark Gallogly of the investment firm Centerbridge Partners.