LSAMP BD: University of Alabama at Birmingham-Alabama LSAMP Sustainability of Best Practices

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The Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program assists universities and colleges in diversifying the STEM workforce through the development of highly competitive students from groups historically underrepresented in STEM disciplines: African-Americans, Alaska Natives, American Indians, Hispanic Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Native Pacific Islanders. The goal of the LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) Activity is to increase the quantity and quality of STEM graduate students from underrepresented populations, with emphasis on Ph.D. matriculation and completion. BD programs implemented in the nation's institutions of higher education contribute to addressing one of the objectives in NSF's 2018-2022 Strategic Plan, namely to foster the growth of a more capable and diverse research workforce and advance the scientific and innovation skills of the Nation. The vision of this grant is to provide a national model to produce underrepresented scientists and engineers with doctoral degrees in STEM.The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) will be the host site for the 2018-2020 Alabama Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Bridge to the Doctorate (LSAMP BD) Program. The activities of UAB's intensive, highly interactive program will provide diverse graduate students who are Alabama LSAMP BD Fellows with research training in STEM disciplines. Retention strategies for BD students at UAB will be carried out by providing the best available research experiences and resources; establishing appropriate faculty guidance; quality mentoring and providing the support needed to accomplish the goal of earning doctoral degrees in STEM. Additionally, students will participate in special topic seminars, professional and social networking activities, receive group and individual career counseling, and engage in internship opportunities and travel to attend professional conferences. The project will build upon existing relationships between UAB and other universities, national laboratories and NSF programs such as EPSCoR, to increase the number of minority students enrolling and matriculating in MS and PhD STEM graduate programs.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.