UT Alliance Bridge to the Doctorate Proposal - Cohort VI

德克萨斯大学系统路易斯·斯托克斯少数民族参与联盟(LSAMP)将赞助一个通往博士项目(BD)的桥梁项目，全力支持德克萨斯大学埃尔帕索分校(UTEP)的12名研究生。这将增加有才华的学生的数量，特别是来自代表不足的少数民族(URM)群体的学生，他们将获得科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)学科的博士学位，完成后要么进入技术劳动力大军，要么选择在学术界就业。该项目将建立在德克萨斯大学埃尔帕索分校以前BD同龄人的经验基础上。该计划的关键组成部分包括：1.该计划将主要面向有本科研究经验的学生，这些学生进入STEM学科攻读博士学位的快车道。将征集大量计划于2009年秋季在UTEP开始研究生学习的合格申请者。申请者将经过仔细的筛选；申请过程将包括由项目管理员进行的个人面试。被BD项目录取的学生将在第一学期作为研究生确定一位教师导师和一个研究课题。除了全面的经济支持外，研究员还将得到高质量的咨询和指导，以帮助他们实现学术目标，支持他们克服博士学位的障碍，并为他们成为知识渊博和胜任的专业人员做好准备。符合条件的BD研究员将申请继续支持NSF研究生奖学金计划。预计研究员每年至少参加一次各自学科的专业会议；学生还将参加国家科学基金会联合年会。该项目将有助于建立有关干预措施的知识库，以引导来自代表不足的少数族裔的合格学生从STEM学科的本科学位成功完成其研究领域的博士课程。该项目试图解决的基本研究问题是：对于在STEM学科获得博士学位的学生群体(通常是学业准备不足、经济困难和/或第一代)，密集干预战略能否对研究生成功做出积极贡献？拟议的计划将导致发现成功的URM研究生成功战略，这些战略适用于其他具有类似UTEP特征的高等院校(城市研究型大学，URM招生比例较高)。该计划将有助于实现国家目标，即增加STEM学科中拥有其专业领域终极学位的人数不足的少数族裔学生的数量。

The University of Texas System Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) will sponsor a Bridge to the Doctorate Program (BD) with full support for twelve graduate fellows at the University of Texas at El Paso(UTEP). This will increase the number of talented students, in particular from under-represented minority (URM) groups, who will obtain doctoral degrees in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines, and upon completion either enter the technical workforce or choose a career in academia.The program will build on the experiences gathered from previous BD cohorts at the University of Texas at El Paso. Critical components of the program include the following:1. The program will target primarily students with prior undergraduate research experience who enroll in the fast track to the Ph.D. in a STEM discipline.2. A wide pool of qualified applicants who plan to begin graduate studies at UTEP in the fall of 2009 will be solicited.3. Applicants will be carefully screened; the application process will include personal interviews conducted by the program administrators.4. Students accepted into the BD program will identify a faculty mentor and a research topic during their first semester as graduate students.5. Besides full financial support, fellows will receive quality advising and mentoring to help them achieve their academic goals, to give them support in overcoming obstacles to the doctorate, and to prepare them to be knowledgeable and competent professionals.6. Eligible BD fellows will apply for continuing support to the NSF Graduate Fellowship Program.7. Fellows are expected to attend at least one professional meeting in their discipline per year; students will also participate in the Joint Annual Meeting of the NSF.The project will contribute to the knowledge base concerning interventions needed to lead qualified students from underrepresented minorities from an undergraduate degree in STEM disciplines to successful completion of a doctoral program in their field of study. The fundamental research question that the project attempt to address is:Can an intensive intervention strategy positively contribute to graduate student success for a student population (often academically under-prepared, economically disadvantaged, and/or first generation) that is significantly under-represented among the recipients of doctoral degrees in the STEM disciplines?The proposed program will lead to the discovery of successful strategies for URM graduate student success that are applicable to other institutions of higher learning with characteristics similar to those of UTEP (urban research university, high proportion of URM enrollment). The program will contribute to the national goal of increasing the number of underrepresented minority students in STEM disciplines with terminal degrees in their area of expertise.