Bridge to Doctorate: WAESO LSAMP, Self Efficacy and Academic Community for Underrepresented Minority Student Success

为了让美国在经济上引领世界，我们必须拥有一支强大而充满活力的科技队伍，他们能够在全球舞台上创造、创新和引领世界。西班牙裔/拉丁裔、黑人/非裔美国人和美洲原住民目前仍然获得科学、技术、工程和技术(STEM)的博士学位，人数很少，与美国总人口的比例非常不成比例。然而，在过去24年中，西部扩大学生机会联盟(WAESO)LSAMP联盟在从目前代表性不足的人群中招聘、留住和毕业学士学位水平的科学家和工程师方面取得了无与伦比的成功。WAESO LSAMP联盟成员亚利桑那大学的这一博士之桥(BTD)项目将进一步扩大努力，超越学士学位，招募、录取、注册、毕业并获得论文硕士学位，并为博士课程的录取做好充分准备，这些学生包括12名之前从LSAMP参与院校获得STEM学士学位的少数族裔STEM学生。这一新的12名学生将从事同伴指导，具有挑战性的研究和学术学习机会，活动，并得到他们的导师的密集支持。该项目的主要目标是招募和保留12名代表不足的少数民族STEM理科硕士(M.S.)从LSAMP参与的学院和大学毕业的学生，并为这12名STEM硕士学生做好准备，使他们具有极强的竞争力，以便进入高质量的STEM博士课程并取得成功。我们的长期目标是，这个BTD队列中的12名STEM学生获得奖学金或研究助理奖学金，被录取、入学并成功毕业并获得博士学位，进入STEM劳动力大军。该项目的范围是通过在WAESO LSAMP的联盟成员亚利桑那大学校区进行两年全日制研究生学习之前和两年期间的5项任务来实现这一总体目标：1)招募12名从LSAMP参与院校毕业的高质量、未被充分代表的少数族裔STEM学生；2)确保这些学生成功地获得硕士学位和论文；3)提高每个学生的研究自我效能；4)建立一个欢迎学生的学术社区；以及5)为奖学金、博士项目申请和手稿写作提供指导。该项目将利用从研究文献中收集的证据得出的两个假设：1)未被充分代表的少数族裔学生研究自我效能感的改善将增加学生在STEM领域攻读博士学位的可能性。学生的研究自我效能感将通过专业发展研讨会、研究经验和指导来增强，这些共同增加了学生的自信，增强了学生作为科学家的认同感。2)提供一个受欢迎的学术团体将通过抵消对代表不足的少数族裔研究生的孤立，减少代表不足的少数族裔研究生的流失。一个紧密联系的社区的形成将以定期安排的专业发展研讨会和社区建设社交活动为中心。主要方法是通过以下方式建立学生的自我效能感：1)加强他们的专业发展技能；2)为他们提供利用研究工具和所在学科技能的经验；3)让学生在一个促进学术沉浸的社区中与导师和同龄人互动；以及4)让学生接触到已经获得博士学位的成功和鼓舞人心的少数族裔专业人员。在为期两年的课程中，每名STEM学生在与教师导师配对后，将定期进行类似于拥有暑期研究助理奖学金的同龄人的研究，将他们的研究成果写在硕士论文中，为他们的研究结果辩护，并准备将其作为一篇科学同行评议论文发表。

For the U.S. to lead the world economically, we must have a strong and vibrant scientific and technological workforce who can create, innovate and lead on the global stage. Hispanic/Latino, Black/African American and Native Americans still currently obtain doctoral degrees in science, technology, engineering, and technology (STEM) in low numbers that are very disproportionate to the overall U.S. population. However, over the past 24 years, the Western Alliance to Expand Student Opportunity (WAESO) LSAMP alliance has demonstrated unparalleled success in recruiting, retaining, and graduating Bachelor's degree level scientists and engineers from currently underrepresented populations. This Bridge to the Doctorate (BTD) project at WAESO LSAMP's alliance member University of Arizona will further expand efforts beyond the baccalaureate to recruit, admit, enroll, graduate with thesis masters degrees, and fully prepare for admission to doctoral programs, 12 underrepresented minority STEM students who have previously graduated with a Bachelor's degree in STEM from LSAMP participating colleges and universities. This new cohort of 12 students will engage in peer mentoring, challenging research and academic study opportunities, activities, and receive intensive support from their mentors. The primary goal of this project is to recruit and retain a BTD cohort of 12 underrepresented minority STEM Master of Science (M.S.) students who have graduated from LSAMP participating colleges and universities and prepare those 12 STEM M.S. students to be highly competitive in order to enter and succeed in high quality STEM PhD programs. The long-term goal is that the 12 STEM students in this BTD cohort obtain fellowships or research assistantships, be admitted, enroll, and succeed in graduating with a PhD degree and enter into the STEM workforce. The scope of this project is to achieve this overarching goal through 5 tasks before and during two years of full-time graduate study at WAESO LSAMP's alliance member University of Arizona campus: 1) recruit 12 high quality underrepresented minority STEM students who have graduated from LSAMP participating institutions; 2) ensure these students succeed in obtaining an M.S. degree with a thesis; 3) increase each student's research self-efficacy; 4) build a welcoming academic community; and 5) provide coaching for fellowships, PhD program applications, and manuscript writing. This project will utilize two hypotheses derived from the evidence gleaned from the research literature: 1) Improvements in a underrepresented minority student's research self-efficacy will increase the likelihood that a student will pursue a PhD in a STEM field. The student's research self-efficacy will be enhanced by professional development workshops, research experience, and mentoring, which collectively increase student self-confidence and bolster the student's identity as a scientist. 2) Providing a welcoming academic community will decrease the attrition of underrepresented minority graduate students by counteracting isolation of underrepresented minority graduate students. The formation of a tightly knit community will be centered around the regularly scheduled professional development workshops and community building social events. The main approach is to build the self-efficacy of the students by: 1) strengthening their professional development skills; 2) providing them with experience utilizing research tools and skills of their discipline; 3) having students engage with mentors and peers in an academically stimulating community promoting scientific immersion; and 4) exposing students to successful and inspirational underrepresented minority professionals that have already earned a PhD. During the course of two years, after being paired with a faculty mentor, each STEM student will perform research on a regular basis similar to peers with a research assistantship with summer support, write-up their research findings in a masters thesis, defend their research results, and prepare them for publication as a scientific peer-reviewed paper.