This proposal is centered on the Columbia University Bridge to the PhD in the Natural Sciences Program. The program provides full-time employment to post-baccalaureate students from underrepresented groups whose objective is to gain admission into a PhD program in a STEM discipline. Participants in the program are hired as research assistants for up to two years while they are enrolled in at least one science class per semester at Columbia. While in the program the students are provided with structured professional development and are heavily mentored. Throughout their time in the program the students conduct research under the direct supervision of their mentors. They are provided a salary and some funds for professional and educational expenses. As employees of Columbia program participants are eligible for university benefits. One interesting aspect of this program is that it is shared-risk in the sense that the mentors of the students provide 30% of their salary while they are in the program. This is an incentive to both the students and the mentors to work together on the research projects.
The program is partnered with the Columbia School of Continuing Education. This partnership provides students in the program direct access to professional development workshops and other support services that are designed to ensure a successful time at Columbia and to help with their eventual application to PhD programs.
The goal of the program is two-fold. Firstly, participation gives the students an opportunity to decide whether the rigors of graduate study, including independent research, are what they want. Secondly, for those who decide that a PhD is in their future the program helps them to become competitive applicants for selective doctoral programs in their chosen field of study. The funding requested in this proposal will allow an additional seven students to matriculate into the program as part of the next two Bridge cohorts.
The share of Ph.Ds. in physics and astronomy received by underrepresented minorities in our country has remained flat at ~2% for two decades, while the fraction of underrepresented minorities has grown from 20.9% in 1988 to 27.0% in 2008. This implies that if we wish to reach parity --- that is, equal representation in the population at large and among Ph.D. physicists and astronomers --- we need to increase the number of underrepresented minorities receiving Ph.Ds. in the physical sciences by a factor of 15. How can we possibly stimulate such an increase, not just in physics and astronomy, but across the sciences? One way is by providing support during key career transitions. For example, underrepresented students are likely to pursue a terminal Master's degree or to take post-baccalaureate classes before transitioning to a Ph.D. program. These students typically obtain their additional preparation at a different institution from that at which they earned their Bachelor's degrees, and tend to move to yet another institution for doctoral study. Crucially, these moves are often made with little or no mentorship. Structured post-baccalaureate experiences are essential to ensuring the successful transition of these students into Ph.D. programs, and therefore for setting us on the way to equal representation. Columbia University's Bridge to the Ph.D. in the Natural Sciences Program, which was launched in 2008, is an intensive research, coursework, and mentoring experience for underrepresented post-baccalaureates. Bridge participants are hired as full-time research assistants for up to two years in labs across the sciences (the participating departments include Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Earth & Environmental Sciences, Physics, and Psychology). The Program organizes professional development activities and offers other services, such as tutoring and a GRE preparation course, designed to ensure success while at Columbia and to facilitate application to and preparation for Ph.D. programs. The Bridge Program's first four cohorts included 25 participants (15 women), 20 of whom have gone on to graduate programs. This NSF grant helped support 12 participants in the Program over the course of three years. It contributed directly to a wide range of research projects, from investigations into the molecular origins of cystic fibrosis to characterizations of the hydrogen gas content of a large sample of galaxies. Seven of the participants it supported graduated from the Bridge Program and moved into graduate programs in Astronomy, Chemistry, Physics, and Psychology.
