The Goal – Encouraging Science Careers Among Minority Students

For eight weeks in the fall and eight weeks in the winter, the St. Elmo Brady STEM Academy initiative from the University of Houston's Cullen College of Engineering will provide these students with 90 minutes of additional science education twice a week. It is now the 10th year of operation for the program overall, and seven in Houston.

The program was created by Ricky Greer, a K-12 education specialist employed by Cullen, and Jerrod Henderson, now an Assistant Professor in the William A. Brookshire Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. The idea came together when they were both working for the University of Illinois.

At the time, while there were STEM programs aimed at increasing general or female student participation, but not geared toward male, minority students. Greer and Henderson started SEBA in Spring 2013 to address this, developing it from an earlier program they did at a Boys and Girls Club in the area.

“What we personally saw was this kind of organic environment that students and their fathers were super excited about learning science, and I was so impressed by that,” Greer said.

The program name comes from Saint Elmo Brady, an American chemist who was the first African American to obtain a doctorate in Chemistry in the United States. Greer noted that they chose the name because of Brady's multiple connections to their work.

Brady earned his doctorate from the University of Illinois – like Henderson – and Brady later taught at Tuskegee University – where Greer graduated from. Brady was also mentored by Booker T. Washington, and the first school SEBA was implemented at was named after Washington.

The program slowly grew over the next three years, and when Henderson received a job offer from UH, he moved SEBA to the Houston area with Greer. As of Fall 2022, it serves three HISD schools – Burnet, Cage and Blackshear –and about 70 students. In addition to the regular Tuesday and Thursday sessions, there are also Saturday courses offered for the students to participate with their parents present.

The program also gives the UH student volun teers valuable experience working in a class room, and allows them to network with cor porate sponsors Chevron and Chevron Phillips Chemical Company. Greer identified three vital traits for his volunteers – civic leadership, pas sion and academic excellence.

Pictured above: Rick Greer is a strong advocate for academic awareness and leadership in students. As a neurodiverse individual, he understands the importance of diversity and inclusion in all aspects of life.

A Measurable Effect

Given the age range of those involved – primarily, fourth and fifth grade students – some of the first students that went through SEBA in Illinois are now attending college. However, scale-up funding and grants are needed to more closely follow students as they move through their school systems. The program was also recently expanded to include girls as well as boys.

According to surveys done in the aftermath of the program though, as of 2018 about 96 percent of the students who participated in SEBA in Illinois were more interested in science. About 92 percent were more confident in their science and mathematics classes, and 88 percent participated more in their science and mathematics classes.

The program was also picked as one of the 2022 Inspiring Programs in STEM from Insight Into Diversity. In May 2022, SEBA received a $739,486 grant from the National Science Foundation to continue its efforts. Greer noted that the program does not cost participating students or participating schools anything out of pocket.

The Future

While Greer didn't have specific targets in mind for the program's size, he said their goal is to grow to more schools and to serve more students. He noted that the model they had in place could scale regionally, or even nationally, although a key principle going forward would be to keep it free for participants.

“We want to be sure that we're building out a robust program,” he said. “And we want to be sure that we're building out a program that is sustainable. Ideally, I would love for the program to grow not only just throughout the City of Houston, but throughout the state of Texas, and hopefully at one point, it will become a national program. I know that's a big goal. But I think that we can definitely achieve it with the right resources, the right people involved, and the right attitude.”

If you're interested in becoming a corporate sponsor or contributing to SEBA, please contact Jerrod Henderson, jahenderson5@uh.edu.

For more information on SEBA, visit their website. https://stelmobrady.egr.uh.edu/