USD Magazine Spring 2021

B A R B A R A F E R G U S O N

[ i n s p i r a t i o n ]

USD receives major grant to boost the future of STEM B R I D G I N G T H E G A P I by Krystn Shrieve

program have declared majors or earned degrees in STEM fields at universities nationwide. The ALSAM Foundation, based in Salt Lake City, Utah, was established in 1984 by Aline and L.S. “Sam” Skaggs, who turned a chain of 11 family-owned drug stores into more than 200 retail outlets in 21 states and later acquired the American Stores Company, which included Sav-On Drugs and many more. The partnership that launched Bridging the Gap began in 2009, when the science departments at USD responded to The ALSAM Foundation’s request to design a science enrichment program that served Mater Dei’s Science Acade- my. The partnership recently was

and mathematics and help them gain the academic and research fundamentals they need to suc- ceed in college and pursue ca- reers in those fields. In addition to endowing Bridging the Gap in perpetuity, the funding also provides scholar- ships for Mater Dei students who plan to major in STEM disciplines at USD. To date, a large majority of the 174 students who have participated in the

n 2010, as a senior at Mater Dei Catholic High School in Chula Vista, Nick Day ’15 (BA) was interested in biology and participated in what was then a new program, known as Bridging the Gap. In it, he learned how cells work in greater detail and realized he enjoyed the field. So much so that Day went on to earn his bachelor’s degree in biol- ogy from the University of San Diego. In 2020, he received his

PhD in cellular biology from the University of Montana. Today, he’s a postdoctoral research associate at Pacific Northwestern National Laboratory where he works on biomedical research projects. Bridging the Gap is still going strong and, recently, USD was awarded a $4 million grant from The ALSAM Foundation to endow the program, which aims to inspire students to major in science, technology, engineering

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