Wayne State University faculty are collaborating on a federally funded effort to minimize health disparities nationwide by increasing the number of local high school girls, particularly those of color, who enter college prepared to study health-related science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Leading that effort is Sally K. Roberts, assistant professor of mathematics education in Wayne State\'s College of Education, who recently received a $1.7 million, five-year grant from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health. She is planning a three-pronged approach that aims to increase the interest of metropolitan Detroit area girls in health-related STEM disciplines. Roberts, faculty adviser for WSU\'s Gaining Options-Girls Investigate Real Life (GO-GIRL) program, has developed an intervention that will draw seventh-grade participants from that initiative. Organizers say GO-GIRL, originally funded through a grant from the National Science Foundation, has enriched the academic experiences of more than 600 adolescent girls since the first class completed the program in 2002.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-10/wsu--mn101711.php
http://www.firstscience.com/home/news/science-business/1-7-million-nih-grant-to-wayne-state-prepares-girls-to-study-for-health-related-fields_115216.html