NSF Award
2204703
The Virginia-North Carolina Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP VA-NC Alliance) Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) activity will offer 12 talented students from multiple LSAMP alliances the opportunity to pursue doctoral degrees in STEM fields at Virginia Commonwealth University. The overall goal of the program is to broaden participation in STEM graduate programs by addressing known barriers to URM participation in STEM graduate-level education, including lack of academic and social integration within STEM graduate programs, lack of STEM-related professional mentoring, and support for research self-efficacy. The project will implement a comprehensive program that includes rigorous academic preparation, mentoring activities and training, research training experiences, and professional development activities for the BD Fellows. The objectives for achieving the program goals include a multi-tiered recruitment strategy, development of an orbital model of support for BD Fellows, activities such that 90% of the Fellows complete the doctorate within 6 years of initial enrollment, and evaluation contributing to understanding the impacts, strengths, and weaknesses of the program for advancing knowledge.<br/><br/>The project will contribute to advancing the NSF’s Mission “To promote the progress of science: “to advance the national health, prosperity and welfare, or to secure the national defense” and its 2018-2022 Strategic Plan to: “foster the growth of a more capable and diverse research workforce and advance the scientific and innovation skills of the nation.” This project will increase the number of Ph.D.-level scientists by having BD Fellows discover, and subsequently conduct, state-of-the art research. Fellows will work alongside esteemed STEM faculty in a diversity of STEM disciplines, leading to a doctoral degree, and, ultimately, careers in research and teaching, thus contributing to our nation’s STEM enterprise. As the recruitment pool of LSAMP baccalaureate recipients includes a high proportion of individuals from underrepresented minority populations, the project anticipates that BD Fellows will be students from these groups. Therefore, the project will contribute significantly to broadening participation in academe and science research. Project success will aid in the recruitment and retention of future STEM scholars, long after the project has ended.<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.
