Scholarship Program Focuses on Computer Science, Tribal Nation Building

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From left, OU team members Deborah Moore-Russo, Deborah Trytten, Natalie Youngbull, Heather Shotton, Casey Haskins and Randa Shehab.

 

Deborah Trytten, a computer science professor, is leading a research team at the University of Oklahoma focused on creating pathways to STEM disciplines for students with demonstrated financial need. Funded by the National Science Foundation, the project will support scholarships to 23 full-time students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in computer science. 

The interdisciplinary team was awarded a nearly $1.5 million grant from the Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics program at the NSF. They represent the many facets of the program to support Indigenous students at OU. The project is also supported by two advisory boards: the Advisors for Indigenous Community Engagement board consists of community members and professionals who support Indigenous education across Oklahoma. The Student Success Advisory Board consists of OU faculty, students and staff who support Indigenous students. Many of the members of both boards have an Indigenous identity.

Along with Trytten, the OU team leading the effort includes Dean Hougen, associate director and an associate professor in the School of Computer Science, and Randa Shehab, senior associate dean and the Nettie Vincent Boggs Professor in the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Gallogly College of Engineering. 

Other OU team members include Heather Shotton (citizen of Wichita and Affiliated Tribes), director of Indigenous education initiatives and department chair for Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, and Natalie Youngbull (citizen of Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma) and assistant professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, both in the Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education. 

Deborah Moore-Russo, professor and First-Year Mathematics director, and Casey Haskins (citizen of Seminole Nation), instructor in the Department of Mathematics, both in the College of Arts and Sciences, round out the team.  

Photo, from left, OU team members Deborah Moore-Russo, Deborah Trytten, Natalie Youngbull, Heather Shotton, Casey Haskins and Randa Shehab.

 

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