Louis Stokes B2B Alliance: Central Florida STEM Alliance Paths to Engagement : Central Florida STEM Alliance Paths to Engagement

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The Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program assists universities and colleges in diversifying the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce through their efforts at significantly increasing the numbers of students from historically underrepresented minority populations to successfully complete high-quality degree programs in STEM. Over the next three years, the Central Florida STEM Alliance (CFSA), an alliance of four community colleges, will partner with three baccalaureate degree-granting institutions (Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, Florida Institute of Technology, and Florida Polytechnic University) from the State University System of Florida to support the retention, transfer, and successful graduation of Alliance students in STEM fields. The alliance institutions include Valencia Community College (Lead institution), College of Central Florida, Pasco-Hernando State College, and Polk State College.Building on the Alliance’s past successes, it will continue to work with students who are historically underrepresented in STEM fields while studying innovative and evidence-based strategies to maximize STEM opportunities for community college students. The project will achieve a 30% net increase in the number of students who successfully transfer into STEM baccalaureate degree programs over the three-year project period. The CFSA will analyze innovative strategies aligned with the intersection of sense of belonging, STEM identity, STEM self-efficacy, and the impact these factors have on persistence in STEM pathways among minoritized students. This project will more deeply examine the conditions under which targeted students begin to identify as emerging STEM professionals and as belonging to a STEM community, building on the LSAMP program theory and Tinto Model (1987) by examining the social, emotional, educational, financial, and cultural conditions that accelerate student progress in the community college context.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.