The Louis Stokes Mississippi STEM Pathways and Research Alliance is a comprehensive statewide program that is designed to support broad-based STEM education and to provide pathways to STEM careers in all geographical areas of the state of Mississippi. This alliance is comprised of nine (9) post-secondary institutions that have a long history of cooperation through collective sharing of resources combined with individual institutional strengths. The institutions include Jackson State University (the lead institution), the University of Mississippi, Mississippi State University, Alcorn State University, Mississippi Valley State University, the University of Southern Mississippi, Tougaloo College, Delta State University, and Hinds Community College. The alliance will recruit and support the economically disadvantaged minority student population throughout the state. The support provided by NSF has been, and will continue to be instrumental to the training of students unrepresented in STEM from undergraduate through graduate programs. Many Mississippi students enrolled in STEM disciplines will likely change their majors after the first year in college. LS-MAMP will develop pathways for successful, recruitment, retention and transition of students to STEM majors and will aid in changing these patterns for a significant number of URM students in the region. These efforts will be carried out through programmatic activities such as mentoring, intrusive intervention, legislative changes, (2+2) community college program and transfers, conferences, expert speakers, summer internships, advising and many other activities to improve upon these successes and to retain and graduate these enthusiastic yet less prepared STEM students from undergraduate to graduate and to STEM fields.
The need for a strong, strategic, and productive STEM graduate pipeline within the state cannot be overemphasized. The alliance will continue to provide opportunities for students and equip them with the foundation necessary to tackle the states' and the nation's science and technology needs and challenges. The scientific and technological needs of the nation as well as the unique opportunity presented by the demographics and educational needs of the state makes the alliance a strong partner of the National Science Foundation. The mission of the Mississippi STEM Pathways and Research Alliance will be accomplished by 1). Increasing undergraduate STEM enrollment and recruitment by 35% and increasing STEM retention and baccalaureate graduation by 30% over the next five years, 2). Increasing the number of students matriculating into STEM graduate program pipelines by 25% over the next five years, 3). Increasing the production and dissemination of scholarly research on broadening participation of URM students in STEM discipline, 4). Increasing the number of students gaining international research experiences from 20 to 30 students annually, 5). Providing mentoring and STEM research experiences for students through partnerships with national laboratories, industry, out-of-state universities, and scientific societies, 6), Supporting the alliance initiatives via continued institutionalization. (7). Engaging in educational research that will provide a sustainable institution-wide model to highlight high impact best practices, and control group study to drastically improve the graduation rates of URM students in STEM fields.
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.
