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June 29, 2011

Our View: USM's Pioneers Program prepares the way for jobs

The new science and technology honors program will benefit students and businesses.

The dictionary tells us that a pioneer is a "person who goes before, preparing the way for others."

So the new science and technology honors program at the University of Southern Maine is aptly named.

The university announced this month the class of eight students, from Caribou to Biddeford, who will be the first members of the program when school opens in the fall. Selected from a competitive field, the students will receive full-tuition scholarships for four years, live together and have a variety of research and internship opportunities – both with professors and with private businesses in the community.

These are great opportunities for these Maine students, and offering them was probably what it took to keep the students from accepting other offers from out of state. But aside from being good news for these students, this program is good news for the rest of the community as well.

In the chicken-and-egg world of employment, high-tech job opportunities go where there are people to fill them. A college program like this in Greater Portland can do a great deal to stimulate job growth in exactly the kinds of fields that Maine wants to nurture if we are to make the transition from a low-wage, low-skill state.

At a time when there is pressure on all public institutions to make do with less, any kind of expansion, even a small-scale one, by USM is something that should be applauded.

As it gets started, the Pioneer Program should raise the profile of USM, benefiting not just the honors program students but other math and science students. It also will provide interns and research partners for local businesses, and eventually add to the pool of qualified workers.

As this group of pioneers prepares the way, we all should take a moment and wish them a good trip.

 

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