STEP: A Multidisciplinary Bridge Program in a Liberal Arts Setting

该计划侧重于招聘和保留举措，以此作为增加SMET毕业生数量的途径。作为招生工作的一部分，在进入大一之前的夏季，参加一个校园研究桥项目是对高中生的诱惑力。该计划由招生办公室以及理科教师和学生研究人员走访数学和理科“磁石”学校进行宣传。女性尤其成为攻击目标。参与者的选择是基于对科学和学术状况表现出的兴趣，不仅包括表现出学术成就的学生，还包括那些在各种衡量标准上处于申请者群体中等水平的学生。高考前的暑期研究体验为期六周。参与者与个别教职员工共同参与后者的研究，每天至少在实验室呆上7个小时。作为培养社区意识的一个重要组成部分，他们住在一间“暑期理工科”宿舍。每周与教职员工共进午餐，然后讨论从适应到大学生活到女性从事科学的各种话题，以及专程出城参加体育和文化活动，也是让他们融入同行和教职员工网络的努力的一部分。这种社区意识的加强持续到学年，在10月份的海报会议上，学生们报告了他们的暑期研究活动和发现，并举行了每两周一次的午餐会和研讨会。在汉密尔顿学院的配套资助下，该项目的一个重要部分是为每个参与者提供第二次为期10周的暑期研究体验，由他们选择相同或不同的教授。鼓励学生通过与指导教授的学徒关系，以及通过在会议上发表和展示他们的工作的机会，将研究内化到他们个人的学术愿景中。他们还为一批新来的学生充当同行导师，从而确保社区的连续性。目前，生物化学、化学、计算机科学、神经科学和物理学的10个学院已经向参与者开放了他们的实验室。

The program focuses on both recruitment and retention initiatives as ways to increase the number of SMET graduates. Participation in an on-campus research bridge program in the summer leading into the freshman year is the enticement presented to high school students as part of recruitment efforts. The program is being advertised by the Admissions Office and through visits by science faculty and student researchers to math and science "magnet" schools. Women in particular are targeted. Participant selection is based on expressed interest in science and academic profile, with inclusion not only of students who have demonstrated academic excellence but also of those in the middle range of the applicant pool on a variety of measures. The pre-matriculation summer research experience is six weeks long. Participants work with individual faculty on the latter's research, spending a minimum of seven hours daily in the laboratory. As a major part of developing a sense of community, they live in a "summer science" dorm. Weekly luncheons with faculty, followed by discussions on topics ranging from adjustment to college life to women in science, and special trips out of town to athletic and cultural events are also part of the effort to integrate them into a network of peers and faculty. Reinforcement of this feeling of community continues into the academic year with a poster-session in October, at which students present reports of their summer research activities and findings, and with biweekly luncheons and seminars. An important part of the project, made possible with matching funds from Hamilton College, is a second, 10 week-long, summer research experience for each participant with the same or different professor, as they choose. Students are encouraged to internalize research into their personal academic vision through an apprenticeship relationship with their supervising professor and through opportunities to publish and to present their work at conferences. They also serve as peer-mentors to a new group of incoming students, thereby ensuring continuity of the community.Currently 10 faculty in biochemistry, chemistry, computer science, neuroscience, and physics have opened their laboratories to participants.