Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement

Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) is an academic preparation program for pre-college, community college and university-level students. Established in 1970 in California, the program provides academic support to students from educationally disadvantaged backgrounds throughout the education pathway so they will excel in math and science and ultimately attain four-year degrees in science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) fields. The program has successfully been replicated in over a dozen other states. (Use "External Links" to go to the main California website as well as websites of MESA programs in other states.)

MESA, while administered by the University of California, is an intersegmental program, with centers located at all major statewide education institutions (California Department of Education, University of California, California State University, California Community Colleges, the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities). MESA has established an active partnership with industry and STEM leaders such as AT&T, Chevron, Google, HP, Sempra Energy, and PG&E. These partners supply expertise, volunteers, internship and opportunities for students to visit companies and learn about career options in STEM fields. The strong relationship with industry has resulted in MESA incorporating many elements of industry culture into its approaches and activities.

MESA has been named among the top five most innovative public programs in the nation by Innovations in American Government, an initiative of the Ford Foundation, the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and the Council for Excellence in Government. MESA is also a past winner of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring.

The Silicon Valley Education Foundation named MESA its 2013 STEM Innovation awardee in math. MESA was named by Bayer Corporation as one of 21 exemplary programs proven to help K-12 students, especially minorities and girls, to participate and succeed in STEM fields. MESA has served as a model for Hewlett-Packard for its Diversity in Engineering Program, a national grant initiative to academically prepare more underrepresented minority students at community colleges so they could successfully transfer to four-year institutions as engineering and computer science majors. In 2008 MESA was named a finalist by Excelencia in Education as one of the nation's most effective community college programs to increase educational opportunities and improve achievement for Latino students.

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