Louis Stokes B2B Alliance: Harris County Community College Alliance (HCCCA)

San Jacinto College District, Pasadena TX

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 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 Harris County Community College Alliance of LSAMP continues its partnership between two public, associate-degree granting, Hispanic Serving two-year institutions (San Jacinto College District and Houston Community College). This program supports underrepresented minority students at a critical point in their academic pathway when they need to acquire a scientific mindset, see themselves as members of the scientific community, and gain the research skills required to succeed at two- and four-year institutions. This program will address the following: transform community college students’ educational research experiences through an innovative series of modules that build research abilities and a scientific mindset, provide an understanding of the research process and develop a range of transferable skills; and cultivate a science identity in underrepresented minority students through scholarly communities, environments, and exploration of STEM careers and occupations. The Harris County Community College Alliance model promotes a science self-identity and mindset that encourages underrepresented minority students to explore new academic pursuits and career options leading to upper division baccalaureate degree programs. This alliance model will be accomplished in the following ways. Recruitment—reach at least 3,000 students through a series of public presentations, events, and targeted emails to underrepresented minority students; these events are designed to increase the number of students who understand the importance of scientific knowledge, research, and careers. Engagement—provide opportunities to at least 450 scholars to gain research skills transferable to current course work and future research opportunities. Students will participate in research exploration, investigation, and experiences by completing STEM Research Abilities and Proficiencies modules. These modules introduce research theory and practice that cover concepts and skills for a broad spectrum of disciplines. Persistence—offer first-year Scholar mentoring, faculty mentoring, peer-to-peer mentoring, and learning communities to counteract the low persistence rate of underrepresented/underserved scholars in their academic pathways. These scholarly, creative, and inclusive environments will increase persistence by at least 75%; persistence includes continuing their studies at the community college, transferring to a four-year institution, and graduating. Transferability—transition and transfer an additional 1,083 STEM students to four-year institutions through course mapping, guided pathways, transfer advising, transfer-promoting events, financial literacy guidance, and utilization of LSAMP alumni at four-year universities as a transfer pipeline. These strategies will allow the Harris County Community College Alliance of LSAMP program to expand the number of underrepresented and underserved students pursuing and participating in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics research, diversifying the pool of students with the potential to address societal and technological challenges. 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.