California State University, Los Angeles is seeking a planning grant in the amount of $39,597 under the NSF Alliances for Minority Participation (AMP) Program. Cal State L.A. will match the NSF grant with $39,861 in "in kind" and direct financial contributions. The objective of the AMP Program will be to substantially increase both the quantity and quality of underrepresented minorities receiving baccalaureate degrees in engineering and science from the participating universities and to increase the percentage of those students that continue on to full-time graduate study. Twelve universities have agreed to enter the AMP planning phase. These universities were selected based on their minority enrollment, commitment to minority education, geographical location in the Western United States, and the expertise they each bring to the AMP planning process. Six to eight of these universities will form the eventual AMP alliance. The participating universities will work together to implement a "model" AMP program on their campuses. The model AMP program will have the following six elements: 1) a community college transition program; 2) a retention program in the engineering academic unit; 3) a retention program in the math/science academic unity; 4) a faculty training program; 5) an undergraduate research initiative; and 6) an initiative to increase the percentage of minority engineering and science graduates that continue on to full-time graduate study. As indicated, in addition to undergraduate education the proposed AMP program will focus on two other transition: 2-year to 4-year college; and undergraduate-to-graduate study. Each university selected has at least one and some as many as three or four of the above program elements already in place. And every program element is being operated by at least two participating universities. The proposed AMP Program will be a true alliance because participating universities will both share their expertise and work together to develop resources in support of AMP. A strength of the proposed AMP program is that it is based on sound programmatic approaches which will take advantage of proven technologies, improve those technologies, develop new approaches where needed, and disseminate those approaches both within the alliance and across the nation. Dr. Raymond B. Landis, Dean of Engineering and Technology, at California State University, Los Angeles and a nationally recognized expert in minority student education will be the Principal Investigator of the proposed AMP Program. He has assembled a Steering Committee comprised of highly qualified individuals to guide the AMP planning phase.
