The U.S. Department of Education has awarded the chemistry department at the University of Utah $400,000 to provide stipends and tuition for 10 graduate chemistry students each year over the next three years, officials said Wednesday.
Because of a nationwide shortage of scientists, the Education Department has targeted all the sciences, including chemistry, as "areas of national need."The grant will make recruiting top-notch graduate students easier, said William Gray, College of Science acting dean.
A dearth of high quality graduate chemistry students is creating what Gray calls, "a finely adjusted market, and given the market shortage, a highly competitive one."
The U.'s chemistry department is highly ranked nationally, so the students it competes for are also being recruited by Harvard, Stanford and the University of California at Berkeley. To compete, Gray said, department stipends have to be in line with those at peer institutions.