UAB Engineering created a Summer Bridge Program to strengthen preparation through intensive, adaptive math instruction, college‑readiness sessions, hands‑on engineering activities, and social support. The U.S. faces a major engineering talent gap, with 400,000 annual openings but only two‑thirds as many graduates, and just 13 percent of interested high schoolers completing engineering degrees. Because math readiness strongly predicts success, many students who need extra pre‑calculus coursework leave the major. In its first two years, only 20 percent of participants initially placed into math levels aligned with engineering success, but 70 percent reached that benchmark afterward, at a cost of $5,000 per student.
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