Alabama Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Phase IV

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Project SummaryThe underrepresentation of minorities in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)workforce remains a national problem fourteen years after the National Science Foundation (NSF)initiated the Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) Program. By all accounts,however, great progress has been made as indicated by the consistent trend of increasing enrollment andbaccalaureate STEM degrees by underrepresented minorities (URM) in the LSAMP program since thebeginning of the program in 1991. Figures show that baccalaureate degrees awarded at LSAMPinstitutions increased from 3,914 in 1991 to over 24,000 in 2004, and URM enrollment increased from35,000 to over 200,000 as the number of LSAMP sites increased from 6 to 35.As one of the six oldest NSF alliances in the nation, Alabama Louis Stokes Alliance for MinorityParticipation (ALSAMP) has been at the forefront of efforts to increase the quantity and the quality ofunderrepresented minorities receiving baccalaureate degrees in STEM fields. The alliance has madeoutstanding progress in increasing enrollment and undergraduate degree production and changing theculture in STEM education at member institutions. With this experience, successful Phase I-Phase IIIawards and three Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) awards, the alliance is poised to undertake a Phase IVproposal to completely sustain the project by the end of NSF funding. To do this a team effortinvolving all member institutions and chief academic officers was needed. In preparation for theLSAMP Phase IV application, each alliance member was asked to identify particular campus programsfor inclusion in the phase IV proposal and strategies and resources for sustaining those efforts after NSFsupport ends. In addition, the ALSAMP Principal Investigator met in Atlanta, Georgia, with Dr.Ansley Abraham, Director, Southern Regional Education Board (SREB)-State Doctoral ScholarsProgram, to solicit support for the proposed efforts from that organization. Information and applicationmaterial regarding minority fellowships were also solicited from the Ford Foundation, NSF and otheragencies. An executive committee meeting was then held to discuss the programs and recommendationsfor sustainability. This proposal grew out of the discussions at this meeting.ALSAMP currently has a variety of student support programs designed to meet the needs ofundergraduate students, as well as students at the high school to college and the college to graduateschool junctions in the academic pipeline. Over the period of the ALSAMP Phase IV award, theseprograms will be sustained and institutionalized. The ALSAMP program sustainability is divided intotwo parts; undergraduate student programs and BD student programs. Undergraduate student programsinclude scholarship support, mentors, research conferences and graduate school preparation activities.BD student programs include fellowship and other support. Details on how each partner institution willsustain the project on their campus as well as how alliance-wide programs and the BD programs will besustained are included in the proposal. These efforts will include SREB, the Ford Foundation, the NSFAlliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate and others.Intellectual Merit - The project is an important step in advancing knowledge and understanding of thefactors involved in assisting minority students in the attainment of baccalaureate degrees in sciencetechnology, engineering and mathematics and bridging the gap between college and graduate school. Inaddition, important knowledge on the process for achieving sustainability will be provided as a model forother similar projects. The project results will add to the knowledge base in educational and evaluation.Broader Impacts - The project broadens the participation of underrepresented groups by the inclusion of alarge number of minority students in the target population for the program. In addition, a large number ofHistorically Black Colleges and Universities are included in the Alabama alliance, and the project efforts willinvolve a diverse pool of students and faculty. Discovery and understanding are advanced by thecollaboration between disciplines and institutions. Evaluation and assessment findings will be documentedand disseminated to other researchers in education and at national meetings.