Since 1995, the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) and Merck, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, have partnered to award scholarships and fellowships to 627 undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral students, as a means to address a national problem of the underrepresentation of African-Americans in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math).
According to the National Science Board's report “Science and Engineering Indicators 2012,” U.S. undergraduates are pursuing degrees in the STEM disciplines at a significantly lower rate than in other countries. Only 16 percent of U.S. undergraduates graduate with a natural science and engineering degree, compared to 24 percent in the EU and 44 percent in China.
