About SC CAPS
About SC CAPS
The South Carolina Collaborative Academic Pathways in STEM (SC-CAPS) initiative will undergird the most promising EPSCoR-funded capacity-building program for 4-year institutions in SC history, providing access to more STEM research and internship opportunities for high school (HS), college transfer, and undergraduate students than at any prior time; sponsoring and motivating faculty growth; increasing research capacity at 11 participating campuses; and establishing a sustainable, permanent ecosystem accessible to all 4-year institutions statewide.
SC-CAPS’ long-term vision of engaging SC Predominantly Undergraduate Institutions (PUIs) and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) begins with the launch of three cores, administratively managed by the South Carolina Research Authority (SCRA), a public nonprofit, and home to the SC-EPSCoR Office.
SC CAPS has four Cores:
- The Experiential Learning Core will engage HS, transfer, and undergraduate students across 11 geographically distributed campuses to support scientific growth, build institutional research capacity, and broaden participation.
- The Building STEM Pathways Core will focus on STEM retention, on-time graduation, and career success by implementing evidence-based activities including articulation agreements, HS bridge experiences, enhanced advising, and peer mentoring, among others.
- The Faculty and Institutional Growth Core will support faculty development through a combination of institutional commitments and strategic programmatic initiatives designed to enhance research competitiveness and secure commitments to long-term sustainability.
- The Administrative Core provides additional capacity-building opportunities accessible to every PUI/HBCU in SC, including competitive seed funding for new equipment, a proposal writing academy incorporating multi-institutional collaborations, statewide best practice workshops, and research experiences for students participating from non-network institutions.