The Universities Network for Leadership Through Diversity (UN-LTD): Developing a Successful Masters-to-PhD Bridge Program for Broadening Participation in Science and Engineering

范德比尔特提出联合国-有限公司伙伴关系作为一个创新的途径，以博士和超越大大扩大代表性不足的少数民族在干的参与。UN-LTD的核心是非常成功的菲斯克-范德比尔特硕士到博士桥梁计划，学生在菲斯克获得硕士学位，作为范德比尔特博士课程的垫脚石。范德比尔特和菲斯克加入了特拉华州州立大学（DSU）的AGEP。哥伦比亚大学和邻近的亨特学院将作为转移和复制该模型的独立试验场。UN-LTD的博士和教授之路强调博士授予机构的教师的研究参与和故意指导，以帮助学生跨越抱负和机构转型。联合国技术开发有限公司的教育部分包括招聘、研究生培训和指导、研究实习、建立联系和专业发展，沿着为下一级STEM参与做好精心准备。有了这笔规划补助金，他们将发展他们的项目，为全面的AGEP做准备。他们全面的AGEP项目的目标是在这些学科中培养出至少是美国机构平均水平10倍的少数民族博士生，并保持稳定的水平。UN-LTD的三个目标是：1.扩展菲斯克-范德比尔特硕士到博士桥梁计划，以包括菲斯克和范德比尔特的所有核心STEM学科：物理学，天文学，材料科学，生物学，化学，数学，计算机科学和工程。2.与特拉华州州立大学合作扩展桥梁项目。由此产生的菲斯克-范德比尔特-DSU硕士到博士桥梁课程将允许学生从菲斯克的MS过渡到范德比尔特的博士，从菲斯克的MS过渡到DSU的博士，或者从DSU的MS过渡到范德比尔特的博士。向哥伦比亚大学及其邻近的合作伙伴出口桥梁方案，作为知识转移和机构变革模式可移植性和适应性的一项试验，有了这笔规划赠款，他们将试验其最终的全面AGEP方案的四个关键组成部分：（1）多层次管理结构，旨在通过联合国-发展有限公司联盟使关键利益攸关方纵向和横向地参与;（2）多方面的方法来计划评估，研究和传播，旨在记录我们的成功和失败，跟踪我们的进展，告知他们的AGEP计划正在进行的改进，并有助于扩大参与科学的新兴奖学金机构;（3）硕士到博士桥梁计划模型的学科扩展;（4）同心指导结构，包括培养博士后研究员的领导能力，他们也是AGEP研究生研究员的近同行导师。智力优势包括生物学、化学、物理学、材料科学、天文学、数学、计算机科学和工程学方面的协同合作研究领域，这些领域将吸引联盟机构的硕士和博士生;完善，示范，并复制一个部门级的制度变革模式，这将被证明是培养成功和博士学位的代表性不足的少数民族学生的实现;和彻底的评估，以监测方法，招聘，经验，并保留在各个领域，看看是否有差异，了解差异的原因，更广泛的影响包括参与机构培养的准备充分、代表性不足的少数族裔博士生数量大幅增加;参与联合国发展研究所的不同STEM学科的教师和学生之间开展了丰富的跨学科互动和思想交流;在参与的少数民族服务机构的研究能力和研究生STEM计划的增强;和部门文化在研究型大学的积极转变，变得更具包容性，支持和培养人才。

Vanderbilt proposes the UN-LTD Partnership as an innovative pathway to the PhD and beyond for substantially broadening participation of underrepresented minorities in STEM. The nucleus of UN-LTD is the highly successful Fisk-Vanderbilt Masters-to-PhD Bridge program, in which students earn a Master's degree at Fisk as a stepping stone to the PhD program at Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt and Fisk are joined in this AGEP by Delaware State University (DSU). Columbia University and neighboring Hunter College will serve as an independent proving ground for transferring and replicating the model. UN-LTD's path to the PhD and to the professoriate emphasizes research engagement and deliberate mentorship by faculty at PhD granting institutions to help students cross the aspirational and institutional transitions. The educational components of UN-LTD include recruitment, graduate training and mentoring, research internships, networking and professional development, along with deliberate preparation for the next level of STEM engagement. With this planning grant they will be developing their program in preparation for a full AGEP.The goal of their full AGEP program will be to produce at least 10 times the U.S. institutional average number of minority PhD recipients in these disciplines, and to sustain this level in steady state.UN-LTD's three objectives will be to:1. Expand the Fisk-Vanderbilt Masters-to-PhD Bridge Program to include all core STEM disciplines at Fisk and Vanderbilt: Physics, Astronomy, Materials Science, Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Computer Science, and Engineering.2. Extend the Bridge Program in partnership with Delaware State University. The resulting Fisk- Vanderbilt-DSU Masters-to-PhD Bridge Program will permit students to transition from the MS at Fisk to the PhD at Vanderbilt, from the MS at Fisk to the PhD at DSU, or from the MS at DSU to the PhD at Vanderbilt.3. Export the Bridge Program to Columbia University and its neighboring partners, as an experiment in knowledge transfer and institutional-change model portability and adaptability.With this planning grant, they will pilot four key components of their eventual full AGEP program: (1) A multi-tiered management structure, designed to integrally involve key stakeholders both vertically and horizontally through the UN-LTD alliance; (2) a multi-faceted approach to program evaluation, research, and dissemination, designed to document our successes and failures, track our progress, inform ongoing refinement of their AGEP program, and contribute to the emerging body of scholarship on the science of broadening participation; (3) a discipline-by-discipline expansion of the Masters-to-PhD Bridge Program model; and (4) a concentric mentoring structure, including leadership development for postdoctoral associateswho also serve as near-peer mentors for the AGEP graduate fellows.Intellectual Merit includes the synergistic areas of collaborative research in biology, chemistry, physics, materials science, astronomy, mathematics, computer science, and engineering that will engage MS and PhD students at the alliance institutions; the refinement, demonstration, and replication of a department level model of institutional change that will be proven to nurture the success and PhD attainment of underrepresented minority students; and thorough evaluation to monitor the approaches, recruiting, experiences, and retention in the various fields to see if there are differences, understand the causes of the differences, identify best practices, and design interventions that overcome problems.Broader impacts include dramatic increases in the production of well prepared, underrepresented minority PhDs by the participating institutions; rich interdisciplinary interaction and cross-fertilization of ideas among the faculty and students in the diverse STEM disciplines involved in UN-LTD; the enhancement of research capacity and graduate STEM programs at the participating minority-serving institutions; and positive transformations in the departmental culture at the research universities to become more inclusive, supportive, and nurturing of talent.