University of South Florida will serve as the 2011-2013 Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) Project site for the Florida-Georgia Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (FGLSAMP) Program. The goal of the program is that the alliance BD fellows admitted directly into doctoral programs will complete degree requirements in five years (post bachelors).
In accordance with the goal of the National Science Foundation and FGLSAMP's commitment to providing experiential exposure opportunities, the new FGLSAMP USF BD Program extends the successful outcomes and best practices of previous training grant awards (AGEP, CREST BD, IGERT, GK-12 and Sloan) to all STEM fields, including mathematics, earth system sciences, biological & physical sciences and engineering/computer Science. The 2011-2013 cohort involves international research experiences and leverages the NSF-DoE Cooperative Activity to the graduate arena. The proposal improves an already successful mentoring and training model used in the previous cohorts to this selection of students and the entire USF graduate program.
A unique feature of this program is that it leverages extensive institutional commitment from across USF, Sloan Foundation and McKnight Foundation with commitment from companies in the Tampa bay community and collaborators all over the world are committed to ensuring success of both, the trainees and the program.
Since 2003, 14 STEM BD doctoral degrees have been conferred through the Florida-Georgia Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation.
The major project outcomes of the 2011-2013 NSF Florida-Georgia Louis Stokes for Minority Participation (FGLSAMP) Bridge to the Doctorate project included the following: 1) Successful recruitment of 19 former LSAMP scholars from seven NSF alliances (Florida-Georgia, New York City, Colorado, South Carolina, Islands of Opportunity, and Puerto Rico) into the Bridge to the Doctorate activity at USF. 2) Introduction of new Bridge to the Doctorate coursework "STEM Professional Development" and "Global Research Training for Scientists and Engineers" to help transition first and second year felllows into their graduate programs and assist with their successful matriculation into candidacy. 3) Full fundig packages post NSF LSAMP BD funding for all Bridge to the Doctorate continuing onward in their PhD programs via fellowships (NSF GRFP, McKnight, Sloan, etc.), teaching assistantships, and research assistantships. 4) International, collaborative, and national research training of FGLSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate through partnerships with federal labs and the leveraging of NSF opportunities (East Asia and Pacific Summer Institute - EAPSI, NSF Pan-Americn Study Institute), and other programs. 5) Discipline-focused and interdisciplinary research projects by FGLSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate fellows spanning scientific and engineering disciplines and areas (materials science , photovoltics and renewable energy, medical physics, optical and microfluidic sensors, materials chemistry, soil biogeochemistry, soil chemistry, microbiology, water resources and environmental engineering, sustainability, geophysics, volcanology, fish ecology, paleooceanography, paleoclimatology, protein chemistry, drug delivery and nanotechnology, regenerative medicine, neuroengineering and stem cell bioengineering, molecular biology, organic chemistry, structural biology/X-ray crystallography/computational chemistry, pattern recognition, software security and privacy). 5) Over 40 presentations at major scientific societies (American Physical Society - APS; Materials Research Society - MRS; Biomedical Engineering Society - BMES; American Geophysical Union - AGU; Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography's Ocean Sciencs Meeting, etc.) regional scientific meetings, international conferences (European Materials Research Society - EMRS; International Conference on Paleooceanography - ICOP; Gordon Research Conference/Seminar, Microfluidics, Chemistry and Physics, World Conference on Biosensors); and diversity conferences (Great Minds in STEM/HENAAC, Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers - SHPE; National Organization of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers - NOBCChE; Emerging Researchers National Conference in STEM - ERN). 6) Interaction of Bridge to the Doctorate fellows with STEM minority role models from academia, government, and industry to demysterize the PhD process and provide them with external mentors throughout their professional careers. During the project, fellows have attended invited campus talks with Andre Adams (NRL), Blanton Tolbert (Case Western Reserve), LaShanda Korley (Case Western Reserve), Clayton Yates (Tuskegee University), Novella Bridges (PNNL/DHS), Brandon Jones (EPA), Lesia Crumpton-Young (Tennessee State University), Otto Wilson (Catholic University). Students have also attended diversity focused and professional society meetings to meet with minority and women scientists and engineers. 7) Broad dissemination of project outcomes to the larger LSAMP and NSF communities via student publications, masters thesis, USF media outlets, socia media (Twitter, Facebook), workshops and panel discussions at diversity conferences (Great Minds in STEM/HENAAC, Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), LSAMP student research conferences (North Carolina, Peach State, Puerto Rico), BD LSAMP club meetings (Florida A&M, Southern University and A&M College of Baton Rouge, University of PR-Aguadilla, University of PR-Rio Piedras, Diverse Careers magazine, a project publication is being submitted to the Journal of Science Education and Technology, and a new website has been developed. 8) K-12 outreach and undergraduate mentoring designed to increase awareness of STEM careers for historically underrepresented groups. The actvities have included providing research opportunities to minority high school and LSAMP undergraduates, faciliatating "hands-on activities" and lab tours to K-12 and LSAMP community college students during campus visits; panel presentations by the project personnel and students during diversity and LSAMP conferences; presentations at middle and high schools during the Great American Teach-In; and Project Connect, an initiative to provide minority students with travel support and networking opportunities during the International Microwave Society (IMS) conference. 9) Intergration of the LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate activity with other NSF funded projects (NSF GRFP, NSF EASPI, NSF PASI, LSAMP) to provide both an enhanced graduate experience and broaden the impact of the project beyond the 19 graduate fellows. Six fellows were recognized by the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship program (GRFP) with 2 awardees and 4 honorable mentions. One BD fellow was awarded a NSF EASPI in Japan fellowship, and 1 fellow participated in two NSF Pan American Summer Advanced Summer Institute (PASI). 10) Preparing students for the global scientific workforce. Michelle Guitard was awarded an EASPI fellowship where she worked with Dr. Yusuke Yokoyama at the University of Tokyo. BD fellow Pablo Cornejo-Warner participated in research training in Bolivia. BD fellow Ophelia George received travel awards for two NSF PASI meetings. She also attended two international workshops. Three BD fellows Guitard, Edikan Archibong, and Shamara Collins, presented at inernational meetings. Collins has also been coadvised by an international scientist from Romania.
