Louis Stokes New STEM Pathways and Research Alliance: USM LSAMP

Louis Stokes少数族裔参与联盟(LSAMP)计划帮助大学和学院努力大幅增加科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)学科的高质量学位课程录取并成功完成的学生数量，以使STEM劳动力多样化。特别强调通过创新的、基于证据的招聘和保留战略以及相关的教育经验来转变本科STEM教育，以支持在STEM学科中代表性不足的人群：非洲裔美国人、西班牙裔美国人、美国印第安人、阿拉斯加原住民、夏威夷原住民和太平洋原住民。这些战略有助于培养准备充分的学生，这些学生非常合格，并有动力在STEM继续研究生教育或职业生涯。为了保持全球竞争力，它必须挖掘所有公民的才华，并在支撑知识经济的STEM领域提供出色的教育准备。马里兰大学系统LSAMP(USM LSAMP)计划成立于1995年，以满足对更多样化和更熟练的技术劳动力的需求。这一需要仍然存在，在马里兰州尤为迫切。四所大学-马里兰大学、巴尔的摩县大学、马里兰大学、学院公园、马里兰大学、东岸大学和汤森大学，加上五所社区学院的合作者-乔治王子社区学院、安妮·阿伦德尔社区学院、巴尔的摩县社区学院、蒙哥马利学院和Wor-WIC社区学院组成了联盟。该联盟的目标是增加来自代表性不足的种族和民族背景的本科生的数量，使他们在学术上具有竞争力，为研究生院做好准备，并顺利过渡到研究生课程。学生将获得坚实的科学身份，以及在21世纪STEM领域取得教育和职业成功所需的知识、技能、能力和性格。USM LSAMP将通过加强STEM途径，促进侧重于提高学术表现的活动，增加获得本科研究经验的机会，建立社区意识，为扩大STEM参与的全球知识库做出贡献，并促进跨联盟机构的包容性机构文化转变，从而实现这一目标。这一目标和战略支持了美国国家科学基金会的战略计划，即“培养一支世界级的、广泛包容的科学和工程劳动力队伍，并扩大所有公民的科学素养”。联盟扩大参与性研究将以不同的方式为知识库做出贡献：以理论为导向的研究，同时测试自我效能、研究兴奋、种族氛围、科学认同感、对STEM职业的承诺，以及在STEM坚持和成功的道路上的归属感。在这项研究中使用的最先进的统计方法(即倾向分数匹配，中介分析)允许更稳健的因果推理，从而为基于理论的模型提供更严格的证据。这项研究测试了USM LSAMP项目的中介效应是否因性别、种族和转学状况而异。这项研究的潜在发现将告诉我们如何扩大对科学、技术、工程和数学的参与。研究结果将通过出版物、学术和专业会议、网站和校园工作坊传播，以接触到研究人员、教育工作者、管理人员和学生，以告知未来的研究、教学、学生成功和有效学术干预计划的发展。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program assists universities and colleges in their efforts to significantly increase the numbers of students matriculating into and successfully completing high-quality degree programs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines to diversify the STEM workforce. Particular emphasis is placed on transforming undergraduate STEM education through innovative, evidence-based recruitment and retention strategies, and relevant educational experiences in support of populations underrepresented in STEM disciplines: African Americans, Hispanic Americans, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Native Pacific Islanders. These strategies facilitate the production of well-prepared students highly qualified and motivated to pursue graduate education or careers in STEM.For the United States (U.S.) to remain globally competitive, it must tap into all its citizens' talent and provide exceptional educational preparedness in STEM areas that underpin the knowledge-based economy. The University System of Maryland LSAMP (USM LSAMP) program was established in 1995 in response to the need for a more diverse and skilled technical workforce. That need still exists and is particularly acute in the State of Maryland. The four universities- University of Maryland, Baltimore County, the University of Maryland, College Park, the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore, and Towson University, plus five community college collaborators- Prince George's Community College, Anne Arundel Community College, Community College of Baltimore County, Montgomery College, and Wor-Wic Community College make up the Alliance. The goal of the Alliance is to increase the number of undergraduates from underrepresented racial and ethnic backgrounds and make them academically competitive, graduate school-ready, and transition well to graduate programs. Students will gain a solid scientific identity and the necessary knowledge, skills, competencies, and dispositions for educational and professional success in STEM fields in the 21st century. USM LSAMP will accomplish this goal by fortifying STEM pathways, facilitating activities focused on improving academic performance, increasing access to undergraduate research experiences, building a sense of community, contributing to the global knowledge base for broadening participation in STEM, and fostering an inclusive institutional culture shift across Alliance institutions. This goal and strategies support the National Science Foundation's strategic plan to "cultivate a world-class, broadly inclusive science and engineering workforce, and expand the scientific literacy of all citizens."The alliances' broadening participation research will contribute to the knowledge base in different ways: The theory-driven study that simultaneously tests the mediating roles of self-efficacy, research excitement, racial climate, science identity, commitment to a STEM career, and sense of belonging in the pathways to STEM persistence and success. The state-of-the-art statistical methods (i.e., propensity score matching, mediation analysis) used in this study allow more robust causal inference and thus provide more rigorous evidence regarding the theory-based model. This study tests whether the mediated effects of the USM LSAMP program vary by gender, ethnicity, and transfer status. Potential findings from this study will inform how to broaden participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Results of the research study will be disseminated through publications, academic and professional conferences, websites, and on-campus workshops to reach researchers, educators, administrators, and students to inform future research, teaching, student success, and the development of effective academic intervention 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.