The University of Massachusetts Boston and MathWorks are partnering to establish a new career-readiness initiative that will help launch UMass Boston students—the most diverse student body in New England—into successful careers. Creating a cohort-based pathway of scholarships, curricular support, and paid internships, the program is designed to expand early-career opportunities for UMass Boston students, build a diverse and highly trained pipeline of job candidates, and increase the number of people with underrepresented identities working in the region’s technology sector. The MathWorks Scholars Program is being underwritten by a $1 million grant from the Natick-based company.
“We are deeply grateful to MathWorks for their partnership and their vision in developing this important program,” said UMass Boston Chancellor Marcelo Suárez-Orozco. “As Boston’s only public research university, our guiding lights are ‘access’ and ‘opportunity,’ and the MathWorks Scholars Program is an exemplar of how we can collaborate with like-minded organizations to provide students with both.”
Over the next four years, starting next year, the MathWorks Scholars Program will provide half tuition, renewable scholarships to 20 full-time undergraduate students with financial needs whose career interests are aligned with professional roles within MathWorks. These students will form the first cohort of MathWorks Scholars and will be guided by a designated professional academic and career advisor, whose salary is also supported by the MathWorks grant. The MathWorks Scholars will engage in extensive college success and career readiness programming throughout their college tenure, including a career course taught by their advisor that focuses on the fundamentals of success in professional settings. Separate from this funding, MathWorks will also provide paid internships, including travel stipends, to UMass Boston students, with priority given to MathWorks Scholars.
“MathWorks is a values-driven organization, and one of the values that defines us is respect for what everyone has to offer. UMass Boston students are ambitious, determined, and steeped in a tremendous variety of perspectives,” said Jeanne O’Keefe, CFO and senior vice president at MathWorks. “Helping them reach their potential isn’t just the right thing to do, it makes good business sense. We can’t wait to learn what they’ll contribute at MathWorks and beyond.”
