The Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program assists universities and colleges in diversifying the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workforce through their efforts at significantly increasing the numbers of students from historically underrepresented minority populations to successfully complete high quality degree programs in STEM. The State University of New York Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (SUNY LSAMP) has been funded for 20 years and has built a synergistic collaboration of 14 public higher education institutions in the state of New York that provide a diverse mix of academic strengths and capabilities. Stony Brook (lead institution), Albany, Binghamton, Buffalo, College at Buffalo, Farmingdale, New Paltz and Old Westbury (4-year institutions) and community colleges: Dutchess, Nassau, Orange, Schenectady, Suffolk and Westchester colleges comprise the partnership. Over the next five years, the goals of the project are to:
--meet the grand challenge of preparing underrepresented minority students for successful transition into science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) majors; --focus on providing experiential activities that lead to socialization into science; --promote significant systemic change by increasing research on broadening participation.
The primary focus of SUNY LSAMP is to ensure student success in completing undergraduate and graduate degrees in STEM disciplines. Interventions are primed for a more intentional focus on LSAMP students' success at the community college transfer level and successful entry into graduate school in the completion of STEM degrees. The SUNY LSAMP program is comprehensive and designed to enhance academic and research outcomes including well-prepared underrepresented minority students in STEM disciplines equipped for success in graduate school, engaging mentoring and research student retention models, and a sound and rigorous evaluation plan. The program will leverage its institutional research infrastructure and its partnerships with other state organizations and STEM projects to facilitate successful transitions of minority students in STEM fields.
The goal of the study, which focuses on community college participants, is to identify an evidenced-based formula for understanding what components of STEM enrichment programs contribute to STEM success and why among underrepresented minority students. This is a multi-institutional research project that utilizes a theoretically grounded model - Fostering (STEM) Identity through Transitions (FIT) Model -to explore issues of STEM success. The study has the potential to fine-tune the FIT theoretical model resulting in the continuing development of enrichment programming in STEM throughout the SUNY system and for use at other institutions.
Alliance program evaluation findings assessing the effectiveness of the SUNY LSAMP strategies will be shared with the education community to build the knowledge base and foster implementation of best practices. In addition, the project includes a study to identify an evidenced-based formula for understanding what components of STEM enrichment programs contribute to STEM success among underrepresented minority students.
Over the past 20 years, the SUNY LSAMP program has yielded amazing outcomes including a quadrupling of STEM B. S. degrees to students in historically underrepresented populations. The alliance has achieved an eleven-fold increase in STEM enrollment for this same population of students during this same period. Since 2011, community college students transferring to 4-year STEM undergraduate programs has nearly doubled.
The best practices implemented in this project will have transferable values for STEM activities in other institutions in the nation. It will also create an environment in which the outcomes achieved will be sustainable after the project comes to an end. SUNY LSAMP will not only increase the number of successful students completing degrees in STEM disciplines, but is also committed to creating a more diverse and competitive STEM workforce in the nation.
