by Elizabeth Herrera '10

Succeeding in a science, technology, engineering or mathematics discipline in college can be challenging, and the EXCEL program at UCF provides students with the resources to do well.  EXCEL’s mission is to help students in the first two years of a STEM program stay on track through tutoring, special on-campus housing, scheduling help, advising and progress monitoring.  Since 2006, the program has mentored 566 students and helped many of them moved on to paid undergraduate research.

Dr. Michael Georgiopoulos, a professor in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, said that EXCEL has been shown to increase success by 20 percent more than if the students were not in the program.  He attributes the high success rate to the close attention each student receives.

"The success we see in EXCEL is based on the fact that we are aggressively monitoring their performance in their math classes,” said Georgiopoulos. Any student who falls below 80 percent in their grade receives an e-mail asking them to get more tutoring at the EXCEL center in the specific areas where they are deficient.

Every year, 200 students are selected to enter the program.  This year, 750 applied for the limited spots.  The students are housed together, take classes together and study together.

“The big umbrella under which we operate is as a small learning community where everybody helps everybody,” Georgiopoulos said.  “The students feel that they have a lot of support and have many ways to find support.”

After students have completed the program through the first semester of their sophomore year, they are given the opportunity to participate in research and be paired with a STEM professor.  Students go online and choose a professor whose research they are interested in, and then a match is made.  In the spring 2008 term, 32 sophomore students participated in research experiences.

“My area of research is machine learning, and what we do is design automated systems that learn to perform tasks using data, such as reading, as intelligently as humans do,” Georgiopoulos said. 

Students are asked to reproduce results already accomplished by someone else, giving them a taste of research and an idea of whether they want to continue with research. Georgiopoulos said it is about students learning how to apply their knowledge to their interests.

The National Science Foundation recognized EXCEL and provided funding for the program that will end in December of this year.  The UCF Provost has announced he will institutionalize the program because of its impressive results, and will allocate $250,000 in matching dollars each year. Private funds are needed to take advantage of the match.

Gary Earl, president and CEO of EXCEL partner Workforce Central Florida, said that the organization’s partnership with UCF led to a 25 percent application increase for EXCEL, aligning with WCF’s goal to expand careers in STEM disciplines. WCF has given more than $110,000 to aid in funding for the summer work program.

“STEM careers are the future of our region, and unless we act with an all-around approach to train our future innovators and problem solvers, we chance losing high-paying jobs to other areas,” he said.

Stacy Glass, a sophomore majoring in electrical engineering, said that being in the EXCEL program has given her access to help she would otherwise have not been offered.

“My experience in college has been enhanced by this program by welcoming me into a community that effectively helped me adjust to college, and enabled me to grow,” she said.  The program has allowed her to make friends who are going through the same experiences and who have helped her with her study habits.

Tyler Carney, a sophomore studying molecular biology and microbiology, decided through EXCEL to apply to medical schools focusing on research.

“I would love to continue to participate in research while in medical school because there are so many exciting ways to improve human health,” he said.

Earl sees concrete results from the program. “The goal is to have these students in an environment where they see what they're learning, but they also see what life outside of that degree is going to look like. It is proven that providing direct work experience helps retain students in STEM majors,” he said.  “Typically this type of work experience does not occur until the graduate level.”