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: African Americans, Hispanic 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.
Alabama LSAMP is a completely reconstituted alliance that consists of 4-year institutions, doctoral-granting institutions, community colleges, high schools, and industry. The proposed activities that will expand the elements of the previous program consist of: performance-based stipend support, summer bridge programs, spring research conferences, community college bridge to 4-year institution programs, summer research experiences for high school and undergraduate students, and outreach to middle school students. The objectives of the proposed program are: To increase the number of students from underrepresented minority groups who earn STEM undergraduate degrees; to enhance the STEM educational experience for underrepresented minority students; to increase retention and progression of underrepresented minority students to baccalaureate degrees; to enable successful transfer and matriculation of underrepresented minority students from 2-year to 4-year institutions in STEM programs; to increase access to high quality undergraduate research experiences; and to facilitate seamless transition of underrepresented minority students into STEM graduate programs. The expected benefits of the proposed program are: to contribute to a reversal of the loss of US STEM talent, the promotion of systemic change in institutional culture to enhance the retention of underrepresented minority students in STEM disciplines, increased matriculation of underrepresented minority students that transfer from community colleges into STEM disciplines, and sustained transformation of the undergraduate STEM educational experience. The proposed activities are important to advancing knowledge and understanding of sustainable best practices in STEM education and research experiences for undergraduates and will include a social science study and planned dissemination activities.
The overall goal of this project is: To implement and study innovative, evidence-based, sustainable best practices in STEM education and research experiences for undergraduates designed to increase the quality and quantity of underrepresented minority students by enhancing the STEM educational experience. At the heart of this research study is the question of whether variability in the content and length of a summer bridge program differentially impacts self-efficacy and belonging; and consequently, students' intentions to pursue a STEM degree and academic progress. This research may inform LSAMP programs nationally about how to structure summer bridge programs and contribute to models of stage-environment fit and our understanding of self-efficacy and belonging during school transitions. This study will examine how self-efficacy and belonging are affected by participation in the Alabama LSAMP program, and how they in turn are related to intentions to pursue a STEM degree. The study pays special attention to how different program elements, especially how those during the summer bridge program affect these factors over the transition to college. The effect of the timing and the amount of time spent in the following best practices for STEM retention will be examined: research, professional development, academic support, social integration and mentoring. The method for the research study will involve all LSAMP participants across the nine institutions each year (79 per year) which should result in data from approximately 395 students over the course of the 5-year study. Students will complete surveys (typically online) at intervals during the first year of the program and then once a year thereafter to track their progress. All students will complete a survey assessing self-efficacy, belonging, and intentions at the start of the summer bridge program (baseline). Before addressing the primary research questions, the psychometric qualities of each scale will be assessed. Factor analysis will be used to confirm or modify the scales so that they align with the intended psychological constructs. Factor analysis will also be used to determine if some measures can be combined to create scores that reflect larger meaningful constructs. Because students are nested in nine different institutions, hierarchical linear modeling is the most appropriate statistical tool. Additional models can be developed to examine how the timing and intensity of activities throughout the first year impact self-efficacy, belonging and intentions. These analyses will create a fuller picture of the transition process.
