The SUMS Institute
On Friday September 22, 2000 the PFMF group met with Professor Bustoz director of the SUMS Institute at Arizona State University. SUMS stands for Strengthening Underrepresented Math and Science Students and was initiated by Bustoz in 1985 with a $4000 grant from private institutions. SUMS is now funded by grants of over one million dollars from the state, NSF, and private institutions.
Bustoz started the SUMS Institute because he was concerned about the low number of Native American students who were majoring in mathematics. The primary purpose of SUMS is to recruit and retain low-income students to math and science. Since 1985, 1200 students have participated in the math-science program. Each summer 100-200 Arizona high school students attend a 5-week residential summer session on the ASU campus where they take college level math and science classes. A high school student has the opportunity to start this program in the summer after their sophomore year and continue for the next 2 summers, in this way they will enter college already having many college credits in math/and or science. The success of this program is quantified by the fact that it has produced more minority math and science teachers then any other program. It also has helped to interest some of its students in getting higher degrees in math and science.