Louis Stokes Renewal STEM Pathways and Research Alliance: New York State's Upstate LSAMP (ULSAMP)

The overall goal of the Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program is to assist universities and colleges in diversifying the nation's science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce by increasing the number of STEM baccalaureate and graduate degrees awarded to persons from LSAMP populations LSAMP populations are defined as persons from groups underrepresented in the STEM enterprise: Blacks and African-Americans, Hispanic and Latino Americans, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. The Upstate Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (ULSAMP) is led by Syracuse University. Six partner institutions in New York participate in the alliance: Clarkson University, Cornell University, Monroe Community College (MCC), Onondaga Community College (OCC), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), and Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). The project goals are to 1) institutionalize promising practices for increasing the number of students from LSAMP populations in STEM majors; 2) expand and refine practices to increase the number of underrepresented students entering STEM careers or graduate-level programs; and 3) conduct and disseminate scholarly research to assess the impact of research experiences for undergraduates (REUs) on graduate enrollment and completion. Several industries will collaborate with the alliance over the next five years to provide research opportunities including Micron Technology, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and National GRID, among others. ULSAMP will meet these goals by offering student supports and research opportunities in three categories: 1) bridge initiatives; 2) retention and graduation initiatives; and 3) graduate school enrollment initiatives. ULSAMP will strengthen its Alliance by improving its shared activities, providing resources and incorporating best practices to institutionalize alliance practices and activities. In addition to bridge programs, recruitment and retention activities include the Community College Research Scholars Program, Summer Math Institutes, Power Labs, student research conferences, Graduate School Examination and Application Support and Graduate School fairs and visits. The project will generate new knowledge related to the recruitment, academic success, and persistence of LSAMP populations, particularly the pathway to STEM graduate STEM programs in its investigation of aspirations, pathways and outcomes of alliance participants preparing for entry into STEM graduate programs. ULSAMP will contribute innovative methods and approaches to meet the crisis of educating more STEM workers from diverse populations at critical junctures in STEM education. Project findings from external evaluation and outcomes of the research study will be disseminated broadly through STEM journals, conferences, social media and websites. 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.