STEM Support

The Star Summer Science Institute (S3 Institute) is an in-person program for incoming Dominican first-year students who are interested in pursuing a STEM major. The program features thorough preparation for studying STEM at DU and a chance to build relationships with future classmates as well as opportunities to experience hands on research in STEM labs on campus. The program has no participation cost for the student and the student will receive a $500 scholarship upon completion. Learn more

The Peer Led Team Learning (PLTL) approach places successful, experienced students as “peer-tutors” in gateway STEM courses. The tutors are embedded within the course lectures and lead small student groups in weekly workshops to discuss and work on problem solving for the course. The workshops are a space that is additional to class time, the workshops are designed to encourage student collaboration and exploration outside of the classroom. Current STEM Gateway pilot courses that may include peer tutors are CHEM 120 & 121 (General Chemistry I & II), CHEM 253 & 254 (Organic Chemistry sequence) MATH 130 (College Algebra), MATH 250 & 251 (Precalculus and Calculus sequence), MATH 261 (Calculus I), BIOL 111 & 112 (Intro Biology I & II) and NEURO 105. 

How do I take a PLTL course? If you are planning to take one of the courses above and are interested in taking a PLTL version of the course you can speak to your advisor, the course instructor, or the STEM Support Team to find out more information. 

The LSAMP Scholar program matches first-year STEM interested students with an experienced student mentor. The mentees form a small cohort and meet weekly with the mentor to work on goal setting and problem solving, as well as making connections and friends. In addition to the weekly mentorship program the students are also invited to participate in campus-wide activities such as STEM career interviews and research opportunities.

Apply to be matched with a mentor

If you are a resident student and a STEM major you have the option to live in our STEM Living and Learning Community (LLC). This LLC will bring together different STEM majors with mentor resident assistants. There will be space for STEM studying and a study buddy always nearby. You will be able to choose the STEM LLC after you have applied for housing on campus.