Rice Emerging Scholars Program

Program Overview

President DesRoches with the RESP 2025 Fellows
President DesRoches with the RESP 2025 Fellows

The Rice Emerging Scholars Program (RESP) is an innovative, residential academic program designed to help first-year students prepare for the challenging pace, depth, and rigor of the STEM curricula at Rice. Unique among programs of its kind at highly selective institutions, RESP’s approach to college transition and success is comprehensive, combining a rigorous six-week academic summer bridge program with personalized and holistic mentoring and support for the duration of the college experience.

RESP is designed to ensure that students who would most benefit from the program are not excluded due to cost. Accordingly, RESP Scholars attend the summer program at no cost and receive a stipend for their participation. They also enjoy a personalized array of mentoring and support services throughout their time at Rice.

Program Summary

RESP 2024 Computer Science Track
RESP 2024 Computer Science Track

RESP aims to increase STEM retention for incoming Rice students who might have attended under-resourced high schools. This objective is achieved through multiple avenues of support, including the summer bridge program, holistic advising, second summer support, and a strong sense of community.

Program Area What Students Receive
Summer Bridge Program
  • 6-week pre-college experience before matriculating into their first year
  • Introductory STEM coursework in Engineering, Natural Science, or Computer Science taught by current Rice faculty or alumni
  • Academic and social programming to support the transition to college
  • Opportunities to interact/network with rice faculty, staff, and alumni
  • Free room and board throughout the program
  • Additional stipend provided
Holistic Advising
  • Matched with a dedicated RESP advisor
  • One-on-one advising throughout each academic year
  • Personalized academic, social, and extracurricular support
Second Summer Support
  • The opportunity to receive financial support for summer coursework at Rice
  • The opportunity to receive funding for summer housing and/or extracurricular opportunities at Rice
Community
  • Supportive network of RESP students (“RESPies”)
  • Broader college and alumni connections
  • Ongoing programming throughout the semester

Why Support RESP?

Supporting the aspirations and persistence of students in STEM is essential for several key reasons:

  1. Rice University is committed to dismantling the widespread notion that students from underserved communities cannot excel in the most demanding technical majors. This effort goes beyond education; it’s about changing perceptions and creating meaningful opportunities.
  2. The United States is falling behind in educating the number of STEM graduates the nation needs. The only way to meet the need is to improve access for all students. RESP identifies high-achieving students from under-resourced schools and provides support and programming to ensure they will persist, thrive, and graduate at the same rate as their peers, and go on to achieve their academic and professional aspirations as scientists and engineers.
  3. Rice is uniquely positioned to develop a pipeline of high-achieving, well-rounded graduates prepared to excel in fields where they can serve as role models for younger generations. In this respect, the Rice Emerging Scholars Program (RESP) is not only important for our university but also for the future of our world.

We are profoundly grateful to our generous donors for their unwavering support of RESP: the National Science Foundation, ConocoPhillips, and the Albert & Margaret Alkek Foundation. Together, we are fostering a brighter future in STEM for all.

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