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

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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.