Bridging the Divide: A Program to Broaden Participation in STEM PhD

Arkansas State University Main Campus, Jonesboro AR

Investigators

Abstract

This project aims to increase the participation of underrepresented minority (URM) students in STEM graduate programs by providing academic, financial, and social support to foster sustained interest leading to success. Modeled after the successful Fisk-Vanderbilt Bridge Program (FVBP), the Arkansas program focuses on developing a strong academic foundation, research skills, and one-on-one mentoring relationships to foster the successful transition pathway from undergraduate to Masters-level and doctoral studies. The participating faculty and peer student mentors receive training and guidance from the FVBP team. In this program, Arkansas State University-Jonesboro (ASUJ) partners with University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB) and Philander Smith College (PSC), both Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The project offers a testing ground to show whether the FVBP model, which worked between two urban, proximal institutions in Nashville, Tennessee can be successful, with suitable modifications, among rural, distal institutions with modest resources in Arkansas. Intellectual Merit The program focuses on increasing the enrollment, retention, and graduation rates of URM, low-income, first-generation college students in interdisciplinary Masters-level programs in Environmental Sciences (EVS) and Molecular Biosciences (MBS) at ASUJ, and the Aquaculture and Fisheries (A&F) program at UAPB. Program activities include: (1) engaging faculty and students at partnering institutions in training workshops offered at ASUJ by a FVBP team, and diversity training by the Director of the Office of Diversity at ASUJ; (2) conducting an eight-week summer research program for URM junior and senior undergraduates at ASUJ and UAPB; (3) recruiting and supporting URM students in the EVS, MBS, and A&F Masters programs; and (4) recruiting and supporting URM students enrolled in the Masters programs to pursue Ph.D. programs at ASUJ and UAPB through financial, academic, and social mentoring support. These activities provide undergraduates with research experiences, build strong relationships between undergraduate peers and their faculty mentors, and inform students about the academic and financial aspects of graduate schools. Through these activities, the program aims to reduce barriers to URM participation at the graduate level of STEM education. Broader Impacts Over the five years of the project, twenty URM undergraduate students are being engaged in STEM research projects, eight students are being mentored to succeed in the Masters-level degree programs in EVS, MBS, and A&F at ASUJ and UAPB, and six of them are being fostered to pursue the respective Ph.D. programs. Students and faculty at partnering institutions are immersed in multicultural learning environments to increase URM participation in graduate-level STEM programs. This Arkansas bridge program can be a model for adaptation at other institutions nationwide. Progress and performance goals of the project are evaluated annually and used to refine the program. Results of the project are being disseminated through social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and Blogosphere as well as in conferences including Arkansas EPSCoR Annual meetings.