Garden State LSAMP Bridges to the Doctorate at Rutgers University, Newark

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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 PhD 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 performance site for this LSAMP BD Activity is Rutgers University, Newark, one of the eight college and universities included in the Garden State Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (GSLSAMP). The project will recruit a cohort of 12 qualified LSAMP fellows and support them financially, academically and socially through their graduate program using an innovative flexible structure that is individualized to the desires and needs of the fellow. In addition to providing substantial financial support to enable students to focus full time on graduate-level course work and research, the project provides an integrated set of best practices designed to advance BD students toward completion of doctoral level studies. The best practices include tracking/monitoring, critical point interventions, Graduate Research Fellowship Program and other support workshops, bridge-to-the-bridge orientation, post-doctoral application workshops and others. The optional activities include opportunities with the Minority Biomedical Research Support program, GSLSAMP, the Newark STEAM coalition ecosystem and the wealth of professional, educational, outreach and research STEM opportunities in the New York metropolitan area.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.