Bridge to the Doctorate at UMBC 2011-2013

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The University System of Maryland (USM) Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) willbuild upon its success of training and educating Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) Fellows by proposinga program for a sixth cohort. The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) is the lead institutionof a senior-level LSAMP and has been designated as the BD site for 2011-2013. UMBC is dedicated torecruiting, retaining, educating, and training underrepresented students in science, technology,engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, and preparing them for success in the STEM workforce.UMBC welcomed its first cohort of BD Fellows in 2005. Three of those Fellows completed Ph.D.s during2010-2011. Others from that cohort are persisting in doctoral programs (full-time and part-time) or havereceived M.S. degrees and remain in touch with UMBC's BD Program as they plan to return for thedoctorate. (One 2005 BD Fellow is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Utah, and another will begin theD.Eng. program at Morgan State University in fall 2011.) The USM has four additional cohorts of fellowson both the UMBC and the University of Maryland, College Park campuses. The Fellows connect withone another at BD training, professional development, and community building events. The USM LSAMPbegan in 1995 and has been vigilant about increasing the number of underrepresented minoritybaccalaureate degree recipients in STEM disciplines. The BD award will enable us to strengthen both ourundergraduate and graduate pipelines and create an expanded community of scholars within thesedisciplines.Plans for the 2011-2013 cohort include activities that will begin during the fellows' first week on campus.The program includes extensive orientation activities such as a 2-day Summer Success Institute, theGraduate School Orientation, and multi-day orientations with faculty within the STEM departments. In thefirst year, the Fellows will be assigned a Peer Mentor; apply for the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship;receive training in public speaking; and complete a 30-50 page research preparation project that willrequire them to network with other graduate students, faculty, and BD Fellows at universities outside ofthe USM. Throughout the two years, BD Fellows will participate in bi-weekly BD meetings, attendmonthly Graduate Student Success Seminars, and participate in academic and professional developmentseminars with other graduate students and faculty. By the end of the second year, the BD Fellows willhave learned and implemented methodologies for achieving academic excellence, completed credits forthe M.S. degree or early qualifying milestones toward the doctorate (varies according to department),completed 10 hours of UMBC's "Professors-in-Training" modules, presented at two research conferences,participated in numerous networking opportunities with faculty, attended workshops on thesis completionand dissertation proposal planning, and developed a plan for persisting to finish the doctorate.