NSF Award
2306104
The Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program assists universities and colleges in their efforts to significantly increase the numbers of students matriculating into and successfully completing high quality degree programs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines in order to diversify the STEM workforce. Particular emphasis is placed on transforming undergraduate STEM education through innovative, evidence-based recruitment and retention strategies, and relevant educational experiences in support of racial and ethnic groups historically underrepresented in STEM disciplines: Blacks and African Americans, Hispanic and Latino Americans, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Native Pacific Islanders. These strategies facilitate the production of well-prepared students, highly qualified and motivated to pursue graduate education or careers in STEM. The need for cultivating STEM talent has been well established. For the United States to remain globally competitive, it is vital that it taps into the talent of all its citizens and provides exceptional educational preparedness in STEM areas that underpin the knowledge-based economy. <br/><br/>The University of South Florida (USF), partner institution in the Florida-Georgia Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (FGLSAMP), will serve as the 2023-2025 Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) institutional site for the alliance. The project responds to the need for increasingly interdisciplinary and global science and engineering to revitalize the nation's talent pool of domestically trained STEM doctoral scientists and engineers. The 2023-2025 FGLSAMP BD Activity will facilitate increased intellectual exchange and promote greater diversity and inclusion across all USF STEM departments, build upon both FGLSAMP's prior successes and USF's preeminence as a global research university, institutionalize evidence-based practices in the academic and social integration, comprehensive scholar development, and professionalization in the sciences of graduate students from LSAMP populations. Measurable objectives for the 2023-2025 USF FGLSAMP BD Activity will include: 1) recruitment of twelve (12) LSAMP alumni as BD participants by fall 2023 into STEM graduate programs (MS or PhD); 2) implementing a hierarchical and peer mentoring program model along with outreach initiatives to promote BD and undergraduate retention and STEM research careers; (3) fostering mental health, personal and financial well-being of the participants;and (4) achieving 100% retention in graduate STEM programs.<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.
