The Women In Science and Engineering Research (WISER) program, Minority Undergraduate Research Experience (MURE), and First-year Undergraduate Research Program (FURP) which provide mentoring and guidance from Penn State faculty and graduate students as well as $575 per student semester, are designed to retain women, minorities, and rural underrepresented students in the STEM disciplines by engaging them directly in laboratory research often in their first year of college. The WISER program supports first-year women students, while MURE support is available to minority students at all levels of their undergraduate program, and FURP is open to other first-year students but prioritizes students from underrepresented rural populations in Pennsylvania.