Louis Stokes Regional Center of Excellence for the Study of STEM Interventions

University Of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia MO

Investigators

Abstract

The Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program assists universities and colleges in diversifying the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workforce through their efforts to significantly increase the numbers of students from historically underrepresented minority (URM) populations (African-Americans, Hispanic Americans, American Indians or Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians or Other Pacific Islanders) to successfully complete high quality degree programs in STEM. The Louis Stokes Centers of Excellence in Broadening Participation in STEM (LSRCE) serve as exemplar sites in innovative STEM education and broadening participation. The Louis Stokes Regional Center of Excellence in STEM Broadening Participation Study of STEM Interventions (LSRCE-SOSI), led by the University of Missouri-Columbia in collaboration with the University of Michigan and the non-profit organization, Understanding Interventions, will provide venues for training and development in evidence-based research to practice in STEM broadening participation. The project expands the reach of critical social-cognitive informed scholarship focused on underrepresented minority students by integrating different institution types (majority and minority-serving) into the existing communities of scholars dedicated to transforming higher education. Project evaluation will assess the project at the operational, programmatic, and research productivity levels. New scholarship will be disseminated through Understanding Interventions conferences, journals, other venues, and will be shared among higher education institutions in the nation. 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.