The Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program assists universities and colleges in diversifying the STEM workforce through the development of highly competitive students from groups historically underrepresented in STEM disciplines: African-Americans, Alaska Natives, American Indians, Hispanic Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Native Pacific Islanders. The goal of the LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) Activity is to increase the quantity and quality of STEM graduate students from underrepresented populations, with emphasis on Ph.D. matriculation and completion. BD programs implemented in the nation's institutions of higher education contribute to addressing one of the objectives in NSF's 2018-2022 Strategic Plan, namely to "foster the growth of a more capable and diverse research workforce and advance the scientific and innovation skills of the Nation." The vision of this grant is to provide a national model to produce underrepresented scientists and engineers with doctoral degrees in STEM.
The University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES), Maryland's historically black 1890 land grant institution, will be the host site for the 2018-2020 University System of Maryland (USM) Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Bridge to the Doctorate (LSAMP BD) Program. The activities of UMES's program will provide diverse graduate students who are LSAMP BD Fellows with research training in toxicology, food science, and marine sciences. These are areas of science that do not traditionally engage students from underrepresented groups. The BD Fellows Program at UMES will advance knowledge, and understanding of graduate recruitment, retention, and persistence of underrepresented students in STEM fields, with particular emphasis on STEM research that takes advantage of UMES' coastal environment. UMES is uniquely located on the eastern shore of Maryland which is near both the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. BD Fellows will obtain research experience in specializations such as oceanography, environmental chemistry, fisheries and marine ecology, microbiology, and physiology.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
