Science and Engineering Scholarships and Fellowships Blog

“Involvement in the LSAMP program impacted my experience in a number of ways. Because of my involvement, I was introduced to highly motivated and competitive minority students in the college, which motivated me to perform better.”

Reginald Covington is a Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) scholarship recipient, and currently a PhD student at Cornell University studying Economics. Covington spent four years in the Marines before braving the University of Maryland to study Mathematics and Economics and beginning to forge a road of great academic accomplishment.

Covington admits the transition from Marine to college student was difficult but if his numerous awards since enrolling at the University of Maryland are any indication, he successfully overcame any initial transition troubles. He received a scholarship from the James A. Yorke Young Scientists and the PRIME Service Scholarship from the University of Maryland’s College of Mathematics and Physical Sciences (CMPS). He also received the Maryland Space Grant Scholarship from the Maryland Space Grant Consortium.

Covington has continued to give back to young people in his community. He devoted a great deal of his time to Beyond These Walls and the Upward Bound Saturday Academy, both organizations where he mentored young minority students in his community. Covington says that his long-term goals are to teach and empower young minority college students as a faculty member of a Historically Black College or University (HBCU) and to better understand the socio-economic disparities among communities of color.

* This information is from the University of Maryland’s News Desk and the LSAMP alumni page on the University of Maryland’s website

Related: NYC LSAMP Alumni becomes GRF Recipient in Electrical Engineering – Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) scholarship, our LSAMP overview post