AstroCom NYC: A Partnership between Astronomers in New York City

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AstroCom NYC is designed to improve access by urban minority students to opportunities in astrophysical research by enhancing and solidifying partnerships between research astronomers in New York City. The partners are minority-serving institutions of the City University of New York (CUNY), and the astrophysics research departments of the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), and the Center for Computational Astrophysics (CCA) at the Flatiron Institute. All CUNY astronomers form a supportive and collaborative network and hold resident associate positions at AMNH. Continuing a program developed with support from NSF's Partnerships in Astronomy and Astrophysics Research and Education (PAARE) program, the team will transition into a sustainable enterprise to provide centralized, personalized mentoring as well as financial and academic support to CUNY undergraduates. This has proven to be an effective model to improve recruitment, retention, and professional success for students from groups that are traditionally underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines.The partners in AstroCom NYC are uniquely qualified for the task of improving minority access to astrophysics research because of their strong working relationships, expertise in mentoring students with diverse backgrounds, and the ready pool of candidates from within CUNY. AstroCom NYC serves as a model to urban areas with large and diverse minority populations. Their specific objectives are to (1) create an inclusive program to promote student recruitment and retention in astrophysics by supporting students throughout their studies and research with structured mentoring, fellowships, and additional academic preparation for research; (2) improve student retention and graduation in STEM, particularly physics; (3) create an innovative community of diverse, urban astrophysicists in New York City to concentrate and support otherwise dispersed CUNY students and faculty; and(4) build CUNY students' sense of belonging in astrophysics by creating opportunities for them to work within this unique community of research institutions.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.