LSAMP BD: Bridge to the Doctorate at California State University, Los Angeles: CSU-LSAMP BD Cohort 17

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The performance site for this LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate Activity is California State University, Los Angeles, one of the 23 California State University campuses included in the California State University-Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (CSU-LSAMP). The project will provide a master’s level “bridge” to doctoral-level study for a cohort of 12 graduates of LSAMP undergraduate programs. The Master’s-level experience is designed to remediate the underrepresentation of students from minoritized populations in STEM by supporting their access, persistence, and competencies to advance to e and succeed in Ph.D. programs. In addition to providing substantial financial support to enable students to focus full time on a two-year program of Master’s-level course work and research, the project will provide an integrated set of activities designed to advance BD students toward completion of doctoral-level studies. Activities include: (1) monthly and semester meetings with the BD Project Director to monitor student progress and provide comprehensive advisement; (2) a workshop series focused on information/tools needed for adjustment to and success in graduate school; (3) writing support; (4) weekly professional seminars; (5) community and network building activities to further develop their social identities and sense of belonging; (6) “connecting” Fellows to doctoral programs through collaborations with faculty and programs at Ph.D. institutions; (7) assistance with applications to Ph.D. programs, financial aid and fellowship programs; and (8) career coaching and mentoring activities that will further provide the fellows with emotional and social support in their path to a Ph.D.The project will contribute to advancing the NSF’s Mission “To promote the progress of science: “to advance the national health, prosperity and welfare, or to secure the national defense” and its 2018-2022 Strategic Plan to: “foster the growth of a more capable and diverse research workforce and advance the scientific and innovation skills of the nation.” The project will increase the number of Ph.D.-level scientists by identifying and developing the talent of students who would be unlikely to pursue graduate-level study at either the masters or the doctorate level without the project’s support. This includes students with deficits in their baccalaureate credentials and others with competitive credentials for direct entry into Ph.D. programs, but who are otherwise unable or hesitant to do so. For these students, the Masters-level program serves as a necessary "bridge" to doctoral-level study. Since the pool of LSAMP baccalaureate recipients includes a high proportion of individuals from minoritized communities, the project anticipates that most, if not all of the participants will be students from these groups. Therefore, the project will contribute significantly to broadening participation in academe and science research.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.