Welcome to NSF ACCESS!
The U.S. National Science Foundation Advancing Civil, Computer, & Electrical Engineering Scholars for Success provides scholarships and supports eligible Civil, Computer, and Electrical Engineering students through mentoring and professional development.
Empowering Tomorrow’s Engineers, Today!
What is ACCESS?
ACCESS is an NSF S-STEM scholarship program at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez that supports eligible undergraduate students in Civil, Computer, and Electrical Engineering. The program provides financial assistance, faculty and peer mentoring, professional development, research and experiential learning opportunities, and academic support to help scholars persist, graduate, and prepare for the engineering workforce.
ACCESS Approach
Discover the core components of our program designed to empower and support our scholars.
Scholarships
Provides financial support to eligible scholars to help reduce economic barriers to degree completion.
Faculty Mentoring
Connects scholars with faculty mentors for academic guidance, professional development, and career planning.
Peer Mentoring
Supports scholars through peer-to-peer guidance, shared experiences, and community building.
Formative Interventions & Professional Development
Provides targeted activities and workshops to strengthen academic success, persistence, professional readiness, leadership, and career skills.
Socio-cognitive Strategies
Supports students’ confidence, sense of belonging, motivation, and persistence in engineering.
Career Planning
Helps scholars explore career pathways and prepare for employment or graduate studies.
Experiential Learning & Professional Experiences
Encourages hands-on learning through research, internships, COOP placements, and applied engineering experiences.
Community Building
Fosters a supportive scholar community through meetings, activities, mentoring, and shared experiences.
Student Progress & Data-Driven Support
Monitors academic progress and uses program data to identify needs, guide interventions, and provide timely support.
Objectives
ACCESS pursues the following objectives:
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Increase the graduation rate of students in fields critical to national and regional priorities.
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Implement a scholarship model that integrates formative, experiential, and socio-cognitive interventions.
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Develop and disseminate a data-driven framework to improve scholars’ persistence and graduation rates.
ACCESS Benefits
ACCESS scholars benefit from a comprehensive support system designed to promote academic success, professional growth, and career readiness.
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Scholarships
Scholars may receive financial support based on certified financial need, helping reduce financial barriers and allowing students to focus on their academic and professional development.
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Faculty & Peer Mentoring
Scholars receive guidance from faculty mentors and peer mentors who support academic progress, career planning, professional development, and transition to post-graduation opportunities.
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Career Readiness
The program helps scholars prepare for internships, full-time employment, graduate studies, professional leadership, and careers in engineering fields of national and regional importance.
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Research & Experiential Learning
ACCESS encourages scholars to participate in research, internships, COOP, industry activities, special projects, and other experiential learning opportunities that connect classroom knowledge to real-world engineering practice.
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Professional Development
The program offers workshops, talks, seminars, and activities focused on leadership, communication, job hunting, resume preparation, interview skills, technical development, graduate school preparation, and career readiness.
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Community & Belonging
ACCESS promotes a supportive scholar community through meetings, mentoring, recognition activities, formative events, and engagement opportunities that strengthen belonging and persistence.
