The Ralph Bunche Summer Institute

Duke University, Durham NC

Investigators

Abstract

This project expands opportunities for students to enroll in doctoral programs and pursue social science as a profession in academic and non-academic careers. The project immerses undergraduates in the summer of their junior year in a five-week intensive program that includes graduate level coursework, as well as the design, analysis, writing, and presentation of original research papers. The program simulates the graduate school experience and focuses on scientific analysis by introducing the students to research methods, statistics, and the research process. Those students whose empirical papers are judged to be of high quality are invited to present their work in a poster session at the annual meeting of a professional association. The ultimate goal of the Ralph Bunche Summer Institute is workforce development, specifically to increase participation of undergraduate students in graduate programs and then as faculty in colleges and universities and as researchers in the private and public sectors. The project provides a five-week intensive program for undergraduate students that prepares them to pursue a doctoral degree in social science with the goal of increasing their preparation for and awareness of opportunities for them in academia as professors and researchers and in the private sector as practitioners. The program includes graduate level coursework, training in statistical/quantitative methods, and completion of an original research project. Outcomes from previous years indicate that the RBSI has succeeded in preparing students for graduate programs in several social science fields. The program has also been successful in increasing substantially the number of students with masters degrees, many of whom have gone into government service. 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.