The Garden State-Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (GS-LSAMP) will bring together all of the major colleges and universities from the highly urbanized northeastern part of New Jersey to double the number of graduates from underrepresented minority groups in STEM disciplines in 5 years. The Alliance members will use the ?best practices? of other LSAMP?s as well as innovative techniques to best address the academic and social needs of the students and to change the attitude of these students towards STEM careers. Three well-documented causes of attrition in STEM fields at the university level will be targeted: academic support, financial need and social support. The GS-LSAMP will include Rutgers University-Newark (#1 nationally in diversity) in consortium with Rutgers-New Brunswick, Montclair State University, Kean University, William Paterson University, New Jersey City University (HSI), Fairleigh Dickinson University, Bloomfield College, and Essex County College using an innovative ?hub and spoke? model with northern, central, and southern clusters. Each cluster will develop independent and versatile sub-communities with critical masses of students and faculty within the larger LSAMP community. The GS-LSAMP will create a robust Collaborative Learning Community with outreach beyond the Alliance to impact local community colleges and urban school districts through the sharing of ?best practices? in teaching and learning in STEM fields. The GS-LSAMP will also impact local high school and community college communities through one-on-one interactions among GS-LSAMP Scholars and the students in those institutions. A ?cybercommunity? will be created using innovative and locally tested software and techniques. With the dense population and abundance of opportunities to interact with the public, service learning will be an important option for GS-LSAMP Scholars, as will internships/externships among the many industries with STEM needs in the area. There will also be both real and virtual international components.
Intellectual Merit: The ability of the project to create, through social and academic networking, a collegial inter- and intra-Alliance environment for the GS-LSAMP Scholars, professors and graduate students. Incoming students will acculturate to college life in a Summer Bridge experience that includes intensive academic workshops augmented by one-to-one tutoring, Academic Skills Seminars, Career Development workshops, and personal development advising. Academic support, including tutoring, advising and mentoring will continue throughout the academic year. The GS-LSAMP Scholars will receive support and encouragement to conduct research with STEM faculty and graduate students. They will share their research with their GS-LSAMP peers in periodic meetings and seminars, which will also provide face-to-face opportunities to build friendships and support networks, that supplement the cyber social networking community.
Broader Impact: The GARDEN-LSAMP has the potential to form a network of academic and social support for young scholars interested in pursuing STEM degrees and ultimately careers in STEM fields. The social networking software developed will be made available to all LSAMP alliances. This network will enhance the awareness of the opportunities for students who major in STEM disciplines and will lead to an overall increase in the numbers of underrepresented New Jersey students aspiring to STEM-related fields. The schools that are members of the GS-LSAMP alliance will gain a more diverse group of students with high graduation rates and successful post-graduate careers.
