STEP: A Multidisciplinary Bridge Program in a Liberal Arts Setting

该计划侧重于招聘和保留举措，以增加SMET毕业生的数量。 作为招聘工作的一部分，在进入大一的夏季参加校园研究桥梁项目是对高中生的诱惑。该项目由招生办公室宣传，并通过科学教师和学生研究人员访问数学和科学“磁铁”学校。 妇女尤其成为目标。 参与者的选择是基于对科学和学术概况的兴趣，不仅包括那些表现出学术卓越的学生，而且还包括那些在各种措施上处于申请人群体中间的学生。预科夏季研究经验是六个星期长。参与者与个别教师合作进行后者的研究，每天在实验室至少花费7小时。 作为培养社区意识的一个主要部分，他们住在一个“夏季科学”宿舍。每周与教师共进午餐，然后讨论从适应大学生活到科学女性的主题，以及出城参加体育和文化活动的特别旅行，也是将他们融入同龄人和教师网络的努力的一部分。这种社区的感觉继续加强到学年与海报会议在10月，在学生提出他们的夏季研究活动和调查结果的报告，并与双周午餐和研讨会。 该项目的一个重要组成部分，使匹配资金从汉密尔顿学院，是第二个，为期10周，夏季研究经验，为每个参与者与相同或不同的教授，因为他们选择。 鼓励学生通过与指导教授的学徒关系，并通过发表和在会议上展示自己的工作机会，将研究内化为个人的学术愿景。 他们还担任一批新入学学生的同侪导师，从而确保社区的连续性。目前，生物化学，化学，计算机科学，神经科学和物理学的10个学院已经向参与者开放了他们的实验室。

The program focuses on both recruitment and retention initiatives as ways to increase the number of SMET graduates. Participation in an on-campus research bridge program in the summer leading into the freshman year is the enticement presented to high school students as part of recruitment efforts. The program is being advertised by the Admissions Office and through visits by science faculty and student researchers to math and science "magnet" schools. Women in particular are targeted. Participant selection is based on expressed interest in science and academic profile, with inclusion not only of students who have demonstrated academic excellence but also of those in the middle range of the applicant pool on a variety of measures. The pre-matriculation summer research experience is six weeks long. Participants work with individual faculty on the latter's research, spending a minimum of seven hours daily in the laboratory. As a major part of developing a sense of community, they live in a "summer science" dorm. Weekly luncheons with faculty, followed by discussions on topics ranging from adjustment to college life to women in science, and special trips out of town to athletic and cultural events are also part of the effort to integrate them into a network of peers and faculty. Reinforcement of this feeling of community continues into the academic year with a poster-session in October, at which students present reports of their summer research activities and findings, and with biweekly luncheons and seminars. An important part of the project, made possible with matching funds from Hamilton College, is a second, 10 week-long, summer research experience for each participant with the same or different professor, as they choose. Students are encouraged to internalize research into their personal academic vision through an apprenticeship relationship with their supervising professor and through opportunities to publish and to present their work at conferences. They also serve as peer-mentors to a new group of incoming students, thereby ensuring continuity of the community.Currently 10 faculty in biochemistry, chemistry, computer science, neuroscience, and physics have opened their laboratories to participants.