AMP: A Study of the Facilitators and Barriers to the Participation of Science among African-Americans Attending HBCU's and Majority Institutions

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0HRD-9729401 Sterling It is the intent of this research project to investigate the facilitators and barriers to the participation of African-Americans in science. This study will not only attempt to determine to what extent do these factors affect African-American science majors in college, but it will also attempt to identify any existing differences among these factors for African-Americans attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) as compared to those attending majority institutions. The population sample selected for this investigation consists of African-American science majors participating in the Alliance for Minority Participation (AMP) program funded by the National Science Foundation. Existing data, such as information complied in the Alliance for Minority Participation Monitoring and Reporting Systems (AMP-MARS) and databases created by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), will be analyzed to determine the existance of any documented facilitators and barriers to science participation. Additional questionnaires and surveys will be created, disseminated, and collected in order of answer more specific questions that were not addressed and in the respective databases. Personal interviews with students, faculty, and administrators will also serve as a form of a research dissertation, defended and completed by one of the principal investigators of this project. As facilitating characteristics and barriers to the participation of African-Americans in science are identified, this information could be used in the preparation and planning of student programs. The identification of effective program characteristics could also lead to changes in the structure and implementation of existing AMP programs, or any other program that seeks to increase diversity in the scientific workforce. This research investigation has the potential to add new insights to the knowledge-base related to the increased participation of und errepresented minorities in the scientific and technological workforce. This project will attempt to identify many of these factors in the form of facilitators and barriers and will also attempt to compare these factors for African-Americans students attending HBCU's against those attending majority institutions.