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 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.
For the United States (U.S.) to remain globally competitive, it is vital that it taps into the talent of all its citizens and provides exceptional educational preparedness in STEM areas that underpin the knowledge-based economy. The Garden State LSAMP (GSLSAMP) program was established in 2009 in response to the need for a more diverse and skilled technical workforce. That need still exists and is particularly acute in the State of New Jersey. The eight public and private institutions that make up the GSLSAMP are diverse and include one community college and seven four-year institutions, including one private institution. The institutions are Essex County College, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Kean University, Montclair State University, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Rutgers University New Brunswick and Newark, and William Paterson University. The goal of the Alliance is to increase the number of underrepresented minority (URM) graduates with STEM degrees by 60% over the next five years. This goal will be accomplished by integrating GSLSAMP efforts and proven best practices into institutional, local and regional efforts that encourage success in STEM including learning communities, research experiences, academic bootcamps, collaboration with the community colleges of the Northern New Jersey Bridges to the Baccalaureate, research conferences and advisement. It will also increase the number of urban minority students from GSLSAMP institutions pursuing graduate education and international experiences by 20% through integrated research experiences and graduate school preparation and advisement. These goals support the National Science Foundation's strategic goal to "cultivate a world-class, broadly inclusive science and engineering workforce, and expand the scientific literacy of all citizens."
The knowledge generating research study seeks to understand the factors and mechanisms related to the GSLSAMP's successes in increasing the participation of URM students in STEM from several common and uncommon sources and their subsequent graduation with an undergraduate STEM degree. The studies will potentially reveal the factors and mechanisms in the STEM academic pipeline that increase URM students' interests and efforts in pursuing graduate training and a career in STEM, which will lead to a more talented and diverse STEM workforce. An external evaluation team will implement both quantitative and qualitative instruments to assess the overall quality of the programs on the individual campuses as well as the entire alliance related to the overall goals of the project.
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.
