Uni­versity of Wisconsin-Plat­teville offers new schol­arship program

PLATTEVILLE, Wis. — Engineering students have new opportunities for scholarships at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville.

UW-Platteville is the recipient of a $1.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation.

Some students with low-income backgrounds can get a scholarship of up to $10,000, renewable each year. The goal is to help develop engineers who have a holistic community and place-based perspective that will appropriately address justice, equity and inclusion.

“We want future civil and environmental engineers to be aware of the social needs in a community. Historically, engineers have focused on physical aspects of a location and not people,” said Dr. Christina Curras, chair of the UW-Platteville Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. “For example, if you put a road through an area, you are dividing a community that can no longer walk to each other. Or, people don’t want a wastewater plant in their backyard, so where does it end up? Often, these decisions disproportionally affect underrepresented, and/or poorer populations.”