Northern New Jersey Bridges to the Baccalaureate (NNJ-B2B)

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 at significantly increasing the numbers of students from historically underrepresented minority populations (Blacks and African-Americans, Hispanic and Latino Americans, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians and Native Pacific Islanders) to successfully complete high quality degree programs in STEM. The Northern New Jersey LSAMP Bridge to the Baccalaureate (NNJ-B2B) project continues its partnership between four community colleges in the state, namely, Passaic County Community College (PCCC), Bergen Community College, Hudson County Community College (HCCC), and County College of Morris (UCM), to increase transfer rates to four-year STEM degree programs for LSAMP student populations. PCCC leads this three-year project. The institutions will partner through articulations agreements with four-year institutions in the state including Rutgers University-New Brunswick, Ramapo College of New Jersey, New Jersey City University, Stockton University, Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology, St. Elizabeth's College, among others in STEM fields such as cybersecurity and chemical technology. The goal is to increase the number of transfers during the project period. NNJ-B2B institutions will leverage knowledge generated from prior NSF funded projects to bring expertise to the design and implementation of a range of high impact practices that will aide in achieving its transfer goal and transform its recruitment and retention interventions and institutions. Students will benefit from financial support, early undergraduate research experiences, STEM mentoring and professional development in addition to social integration activities. Leadership and governance activities of the alliance will continue emphasis on improving articulation policies with additional four-year institutions. A longitudinal study of students participating in the B2B project since 2014 is proposed along with process evaluation. Project outcomes will be disseminated locally and nationally through conferences and on-line STEM education journals. Findings from this LSAMP B2B project will benefit educational institutions and the STEM community nationally in broadening participation efforts. 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.