A Bridge to the Future

通往未来的桥梁

• 批准号: 1539931
• 负责人: Marcel Agueros
• 金额: $ 40.32万
• 依托单位: Columbia University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-09-01 至 2019-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1539931&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Bridge; Future

Students who enter college interested in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines persist, excel, and advance by being exposed to a combination of intellectually challenging classes, rewarding research opportunities, and meaningful mentoring relationships. Unfortunately, many students, and particularly those from groups historically underrepresented in STEM disciplines, do not experience this combination, and are lost from the pool of prospective scientists, with serious consequences for the scientific workforce in the U.S. The Columbia University Bridge Program is designed to give underrepresented post-baccalaureates who may have missed on one or all of these elements the opportunity to make themselves more competitive Ph.D.-program applicants. The Program's emphasis on research experience advances scientific discovery; its flexible coursework, professional development, and mentoring enhance participants' skills while creating a structured, rigorous, and supportive environment in which they can prepare themselves for a successful transition into a graduate program.This program will fund participants in the Bridge Program, thereby contributing directly to a wide range of research projects across the physical sciences and increasing the participation of underrepresented groups in STEM. Bridge participants are hired as full-time research assistants for up to two years. They conduct research under the mentorship of faculty members, post-doctoral researchers, and graduate students, are provided with funds to support professional expenses, and are eligible for university benefits. The participants enroll in at least one course per semester, and attend monthly one-on-one progress meetings with the Program's Assistant Director. The Program also organizes a number of professional development workshops, provides access to GRE test preparation, and partners with Columbia's School of Continuing Education to ensure success while at Columbia and to facilitate application to Ph.D. programs. In the next few years, a dozen Bridge alumni will earn their Ph.D.s, enabling a start-to-finish evaluation of the impact that the Program has had on its participants' trajectories. The Program's evaluation team will conduct assessments of programmatic elements and develop a data-driven model of best practices that can be shared with the STEM community.

对科学、技术、工程和数学 (STEM) 学科感兴趣的进入大学的学生可以通过接触具有智力挑战性的课程、有益的研究机会和有意义的指导关系来坚持、超越和进步。不幸的是，许多学生，特别是那些历史上在 STEM 学科中代表性不足的群体的学生，没有经历过这种组合，并且从未来的科学家库中流失，这对美国的科学劳动力造成了严重后果。哥伦比亚大学桥梁计划旨在为可能错过其中一个或所有这些要素的代表性不足的学士后提供机会，使自己在博士项目申请者中更具竞争力。该计划强调研究经验促进科学发现；其灵活的课程、专业发展和指导提高了参与者的技能，同时创造了一个结构化、严谨和支持性的环境，让他们为成功过渡到研究生课程做好准备。该计划将为桥梁计划的参与者提供资金，从而直接为物理科学领域的广泛研究项目做出贡献，并增加 STEM 中代表性不足的群体的参与。桥梁参与者被聘为全职研究助理，期限最长为两年。他们在教职员工、博士后研究人员和研究生的指导下进行研究，获得支持专业费用的资金，并有资格享受大学福利。参与者每学期至少注册一门课程，并每月与该项目的助理主任参加一对一的进度会议。该计划还组织了许多专业发展研讨会，提供 GRE 考试准备机会，并与哥伦比亚大学继续教育学院合作，以确保在哥伦比亚大学取得成功并促进博士学位申请。程序。在接下来的几年中，十几名桥梁校友将获得博士学位，从而能够从头到尾评估该计划对其参与者轨迹的影响。该计划的评估团队将对计划要素进行评估，并开发可与 STEM 社区共享的数据驱动的最佳实践模型。