Greater Philadelphia Region LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate (Cohort IX) Project at the University of Delaware

Drexel University, Philadelphia PA

Investigators

Abstract

Drexel University, as a representative of the Greater Philadelphia Region Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (Philadelphia AMP), requests Bridge to the Doctorate funding for a two-year period for a Cohort IX program, to expand and intensify the consortium?s on-going efforts to substantially increase the number of qualified African American, Hispanic and Native American (hereafter referred to as "minority") students entering graduate study in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), attaining doctoral degrees, and moving into the professoriate. The Philadelphia AMP represents a diverse alliance of nine institutions consisting of public and private, 2- and 4-year research and non-research, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and majority institutions. The University of Delaware has been selected to host the Bridge to the Doctorate (BTD) Cohort IX activities because of: 1) the key role it has played in the successful development and implementation of the Alliance?s BTD Cohort I-VIII programs , 2) its continued efforts to leverage the relationship between Majority Institutions and HBCUs as the candidacy pool for the Ph.D. granting institutions, 3) its institution-wide commitment to increase diversity in STEM at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, and 4) its advancements in the research enterprise. The goals of Philadelphia AMP's Bridge to the Doctorate (Cohort IX) project are to: (1) recruit twelve students into Master's or Ph.D. degree programs at the University of Delaware; (2) retain these students through the completion of the Master's or Ph.D. program, providing the Master's students with full qualifications for admission into a highly regarded Ph.D. program in their chosen STEM specialty with full financial support; (3) enable the Master?s students? admission and smooth transition into a Ph.D. program; and (4) monitor all student progress through Ph.D. completion into the professoriate and beyond. Intellectual Merit includes management expertise and advancing knowledge and understanding in the STEM fields. The proposed Bridge to the Doctorate (Cohort IX) Program rests on a solid foundation of partnerships, resources, effective practices and experiences derived from sixteen (16) years of collaboration, cooperation and concerted efforts focused on minority student achievement under the current Philadelphia AMP and Bridge to the Doctorate (BTD) Cohort I-VIII programs. In particular, this experience has helped the Alliance's STEM graduate programs mature considerably, to the benefit of all STEM graduate students, not just the BTD Fellows. University of Delaware's successful implementation of Cohort I makes them well qualified to host the proposed Cohort IX project. The proposed effort builds upon the existing infrastructure to advance underrepresented minority students into participation in engineering and the sciences at the highest levels. Broader Impacts include: (1) increasing the number and quality of students from underrepresented groups at AMP institutions completing STEM M.S. and Ph.D.s and entering the professoriate; (2) advancing knowledge in the STEM disciplines through the promotion of research activity and the dissemination of information about best practices used to promote the retention of students from underrepresented groups; and (3) enhancing the infrastructure for research and education through the development of support networks and partnerships within the Philadelphia AMP and beyond.