Colorado Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Bridge to the Doctorate - Cohort IVL at the Colorado School of Mines

Colorado State University, Fort Collins CO

Investigators

Abstract

The Colorado Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (CO-AMP) will sponsor a Bridge to the Doctorate Program (BD) at the Colorado School of Mines for the 2010-2013 academic years. This cohort of 12 students from underrepresented minority populations in science, technology, engineering and technology (STEM) will increase the number of talented students who will obtain doctoral degrees in the STEM disciplines. Upon completion, these Ph.D. graduates will either enter the technical workforce or choose a career in academia becoming role models for other underrepresented minority students at all critical education junctures in the future. The goals of the program at CSM are to (1) recruit LSAMP students at the postbacclaureate level and entry into STEM Ph.D. programs at CSM or other STEM PH.D. granting institutions; (2)ensure retention in STEM fields and interest in the professoriate; and, 3) instituionalize successful recruitment and retentionn practices for replication at other graduate institutions. The program will build on the experiences and lessons learned from BD cohorts 1-3 matriculating at Colorado State University. The project contributes to the knowledge base concerning the effectiveness of interventions needed to lead qualified students from URM groups with undergraduate degrees in STEM disciplines to successful completion of a doctoral program in their field of study. In addition, the program will lead to the enhancement of successful strategies for URM graduate student success that are applicable to other institutions of higher learning. Finally, the program will contribute to the national goal of increasing the number of URM students in STEM disciplines with Ph.D. degrees in their area of expertise.