NSF Award
2306044
With support from the Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) this Bridge to Doctorate Activity will offer 12 talented students from multiple LSAMP alliances the opportunity to pursue doctoral degrees in STEM fields at Montana State University (MSU). Montana is the ancestral and modern-day home of many different Indigenous Peoples, yet American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) students comprise only 2% of STEM doctoral students at MSU. Broadly across the nation, only 105 AI/AN students completed a research doctorate across all fields in 2020/21. As a new Bridge to Doctorate site within the All Nations Alliance for Minority Participation, MSU will work towards full participation of underrepresented minorities in STEM as well as support Indigenous self-determination and well-being by providing significant financial support to AI/AN doctoral students and implementing: 1) evidence-based recruitment and retention practices; 2) mentorship and professional development opportunities adapted to Indigenous cultures, values, and experiences; and 3) an innovative support system that enables students to readily rejoin their degree programs if temporarily called away to meet pressing family and community obligations. <br/><br/>In addition to empirically evaluating the efficacy of MSU’s novel Return to Learn model, this project will support participatory and co-produced STEM graduate research projects that prepare AI/AN students for 21st-century STEM careers while ensuring reciprocal benefits with Tribal community partners. Research projects will integrate Indigenous research methodologies and value systems (Relationship, Responsibility, Reciprocity, and Redistribution) with scientific and technological questions pertaining to national priorities ranging from large-scale manufacturing of 2-D materials for quantum computing, to advanced energy storage and conversion technologies, to biofilm engineering, and infectious vector-borne diseases in collaboration with NIH’s Rocky Mountain Lab. Planned professional development workshops will then include Navigating Academia Professionally and Personally, Taking Charge of Your Professional Trajectory, Indigenous Well-being, Creating and Leveraging Colleague Network Groups, and Lessons Learned from AI/AN Alumni. This project will serve as a national model for AI/AN students to carve their own flexible, culturally-responsive STEM doctoral education and career paths that integrate cutting-edge research and scholarship with Indigenous leadership and identity. Results will be disseminated to our university partners in the Sloan Indigenous Graduate Programs and The University Centers for Exemplary Mentoring. We will also present findings at conferences that specialize in AI/AN education. As the recruitment pool of LSAMP baccalaureate recipients includes a high proportion of individuals from underrepresented minority populations, the project anticipates that LSAMP Bridge to Doctorate Fellows will be students from these groups. Therefore, the project will contribute significantly to broadening participation in academe and science research.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
