Louis Stokes New STEM Pathways and Research Alliance: State University of New York (SUNY)

Suny At Albany, Albany NY

Investigators

Abstract

The Louis Stokes STEM Pathways and Research Alliance: State University of New York (SUNY LSAMP) will be led by the University at Albany, with partner institutions Binghamton University, University at Buffalo, Stony Brook University, Buffalo State College, College at New Paltz, College at Old Westbury, Hudson Valley Community College, Rockland Community College, and SUNY System Administration. SUNY LSAMP will implement comprehensive, evidence-based, and sustained approaches to broadening the participation of African American/Black, Hispanic/Latinx American, American Indian/Native American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and other Pacific Islander (historically underrepresented minority or URM) students in STEM. SUNY LSAMP aims to: (1) increase individual student engagement, retention, and progression to baccalaureate degrees through new student seminars, comprehensive academic year support services, and partnerships that increase capacity and institutionalization; (2) increase the rate of successful transfer of students from two-year to four-year institutions through the SUNY Seamless Transfer initiative, through partnerships with community colleges across NY State (NYS) and beyond, and include activities that prepare students for transfer from community colleges to four-year institutions, and comprehensive support services; (3) increase access to high quality STEM mentoring and undergraduate and graduate research experiences through an Alliance-wide undergraduate summer research program, industry partnerships that support academic and industry research opportunities, and comprehensive resources to assist participants to apply and secure research experiences; (4) increase seamless transition of students into STEM graduate programs and degree completion though junior level graduate school preparation workshops, comprehensive resources to assist participants to apply, secure admission to, and fund graduate education, integration of the SUNY’s Promoting Recruitment, Opportunity, Diversity, Inclusion, Growth (PRODiG) Program, and partnerships with graduate schools, and the SUNY Graduate Diversity Fellowship Program and Graduate Opportunity Program; and (5) stimulate new research and learning on broadening participation in STEM disciplines through the Fostering (STEM) Identity through Transition (FIT) study, collaboration with faculty, staff and industry partners to develop culturally responsive mentoring and build more inclusive learning and working environments focused on equity-mindedness in STEM, leveraging the NYS Education Department funded Science Technology Entry Program to provide K-12 outreach and identify best practices in URM STEM undergraduate enrollment, and integration of an evaluation and dissemination plan that highlights research findings, common successes of the Alliance and the individual contributions of our Alliance partners. Given the changing demographics in the U.S. and STEM workforce needs, advancing our knowledge of best practices to recruit, retain, and graduate URM STEM students will benefit society by preparing a more diverse scientific workforce. Engaging current and future SUNY LSAMP participants will create a pool of diverse engaged collaborative scholars who will ultimately become and lead our future STEM workforce and research. SUNY LSAMP participant outcomes and research will be publicized to encourage more student engagement, findings from the Fostering (STEM) Identity through the Transition (FIT) research study will be disseminated to the scientific community, and replication and institutionalization of best practices will be encouraged across SUNY and NYS. 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.