Louis Stokes New STEM Pathways and Research Alliance: Urban Massachusetts LSAMP

University Of Massachusetts Boston, Dorchester MA

Investigators

Abstract

This Urban Massachusetts LSAMP (UM-LSAMP) Alliance aims to examine the impact of a geographically-distributed, digitally-connected mentoring network that is designed to create a sustainable model for retaining and supporting Underrepresented and Racially Minoritized (URM) students in STEM disciplines at seven public institutions in Eastern Massachusetts: three University of Massachusetts four-year universities (Boston, Dartmouth, and Lowell) and four regional community colleges (Bristol, Bunker Hill, Middlesex, and Roxbury). Through our unique Inclusive Multigenerational Mentoring Framework, the UM-LSAMP Alliance will provide URM students with robust: 1) Research Mentorship experiences that advance social change through STEM, 2) Career Enrichment Mentorship through STEM internship opportunities and virtual mentorship with LSAMP alumni STEM professionals, as well as 3) Transitional Mentorship and Student Success Support to strengthen persistence into and through STEM degree programs and careers. By employing a rich participatory-based mixed-method longitudinal research design, this project will advance the fundamental knowledge base in three keyways. First, the research conducted under this project will enable rich learning about how multigenerational mentorship influences STEM belonging, identity development, and persistence among UM-LSAMP community college students. Second, the results of the research studies will help clarify how mentored research experiences, steeped in an equity ethic frame, promote URM students’ principled commitment for addressing racial inequities through STEM. Third, the evaluation of the project activities will clarify how the Alliance activities associated with the key mentorship experiences promote institutional-level change and Alliance-level change. The UM-LSAMP project is expected to offer transformative solutions for establishing effective models of mentoring that advance URM students’ success in STEM. 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.