Program Description
INSPIRE is a summer enrichment, non-residential program for high school students from groups historically under-represented in engineering. It has been conducted at the University of Louisville's Speed Scientific School (College of Engineering) since 1981, with various modifications over the years. However, INSPIRE has continued to be a collaborative effort with personnel from the University of Louisville, Jefferson County public, private and parochial schools, and local industry working with approximately 25 student each summer.

Achievements
To date, 529 students have participated in the INSPIRE program. This includes 305 females and 224 males with the ethnic breakdown being 267 African Americans, 199 Caucasians, 53 Asian, 9 Hispanics and 1 Pacific Islander.

Goals and Objectives
INSPIRE participants have above-average grades in math and science and have completed at least one year each of algebra and plane geometry. Students selected for the program are introduced to various aspects of engineering and science by having them work in teams on various projects. As part of the program the students visit area industries on field trips, but most of INSPIRE is conducted n the University of Louisville campus which enables the students to experience the college atmosphere and interact with engineering faculty and students.

Evaluation
By working with colleagues at the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education, we have determined that 156 of these students have earned college degrees from the public universities in Kentucky. We have analyzed these data to determine the colleges attended, majors pursued and degrees earned.

We are also in the process of completing a major follow-up study on the former INSPRIE participants themselves. This study is enabling us to follow up on students who attended colleges out of the state of Kentucky and those who may have studies engineering or related technical fields but who never graduated from college. The survey instrument gathered data about the effectiveness of the INSPIRE program in each student's life by gathering demographic and personal history information. The study sought to determine details on the student's overall college experience (of they attended college), the person's career history (to see if it has been related to science or engineering), the student's opinion of the quality of the INSPIRE program, and whether or not the program had any impact on the student's education pursuits.

Sustainability
INSPIRE will continue to be enhanced which will allow the high school participants more hands-on, group activities. Additional funding will be sought from the University of Louisville, the DOW Chemical Company Foundation, the ARCO Foundation and from the National Science Foundation.

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