Jackson State University (JSU) and its LSMAMP partners seek to broaden the participation and increase the number of underrepresented minorities (URM) in PhD Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) programs through the support of a tenth (10th) Cohort of students in the LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) Program. The major goal of the BD program is to provide a bridge to the PhD at a 90% placement rate for minority students through the implementation of a comprehensive two year master's degree program. To date, from a total of 106 URM students (Cohort 1-9), 80 (Cohort 1-8) were admitted to PhD programs, 16 have earned the PhDs (including one PhD-MD), and 53 are at various stages of completing their PhD. Furthermore, 94% of JSU's BD students earned their MS degrees in two (2) years. In order to build another successful cohort of competitive URM STEM students who will earn their MS degree and bridge into a STEM PhD program, JSU will continue to utilize a successful pathway whereby URM students who pursue the MS degree have the potential to complete the PhD degree in STEM areas if provided sufficient financial support, rigorous curricula, committed mentoring, and extensive national and international research experiences.
STEM disciplines targeted for the BD include: chemistry, mathematics, biology, environmental science, computer science, and engineering. The requested BD support will continue to accelerate and increase the numbers of URM students entering the PhD pipeline. The BD is an intensive, highly interactive program covering the first two years of the students' graduate tenure leading to the MS degree. Students are expected to continue their work through to the doctorate. The first year the student's satisfy the required core courses and select their research advisor. During the first summer, the students are exposed to scientific and technical workforce environments internships at national or international laboratories, corporations and universities. During this time, students and their faculty advisors continually interact on the learning experience and initiation of research projects. The second year is dedicated to research, writing the MS thesis, specialized courses and applying to doctoral programs and fellowships.
