Causeway Postbaccalaureate Program

铜锣湾学士学位后课程旨在增加美国学生的数量，这些学生来自传统上在数学科学博士课程中代表性较低的群体。具体地说，Causeway是一个为期12个月的项目，在一个强大和支持参与者的社区的背景下，提供基础课程、研究建议、社区建设和职业指导。除了立竿见影的影响外，堤道计划的设计初衷是可扩展、可复制和可持续的，因此好处可以远远超出数学范畴。该项目由NSF研究培训计划共同资助，该计划致力于通过创新的、基于证据的、与不断变化的劳动力和研究需求保持一致的综合培训模式，有效地培训STEM研究生在高度优先的跨学科或趋同的研究领域。下面是三个假设，如果是真的，可能会为其他机构和项目提供参考，甚至在数学以外的领域提供最佳实践。这些可检验的假设是：1)一个相当大的队列增加了参与者成功研究生学习的可能性；2)一个支持性的社区培养了STEM学生的认同感和包容性；3)一个广泛的支持机构联盟可以在NSF资助的初期阶段继续支持一个项目。大规模队列假说的控制组是在传统途径上攻读数学科学研究生的学生群体。铜锣湾的学生能否进入研究生课程将是我们衡量成功与否的主要标准。一名心理学教师的深度访谈，将重点关注学生在该项目中的进步和不断演变的身份，将提供关于该项目的定性信息和反馈。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Causeway Postbaccalaureate Program is aimed at increasing the number of American students from groups traditionally underrepresented in doctoral programs in the mathematical sciences. Specifically, Causeway is a 12-month program providing foundational coursework, research advising, community building, and career mentoring in the context of a strong and supportive community of participants. Beyond its immediate impact, the Causeway program is designed to be scalable, replicable, and sustainable, so that the benefit can extend well beyond mathematics. This project is co-funded by the NSF Research Traineeship Program, which is dedicated to effective training of STEM graduate students in high priority interdisciplinary or convergent research areas through comprehensive traineeship models that are innovative, evidence-based, and aligned with changing workforce and research needs.Underlying Causeway are three hypotheses which, if true, could inform "best practices" for other institutions and programs, even in fields beyond mathematics. These testable hypotheses are: 1) a sizable cohort increases the likelihood of successful graduate study for participants; 2) a supportive community fosters a sense of identity and inclusion for students in STEM; 3) a broad consortium of supporting institutions can sustain a program beyond its initial period of NSF funding. The control group for the sizable-cohort hypothesis is the population of students in traditional pathways to graduate study in mathematical sciences. Placement of Causeway students in graduate programs will be our primary measure of success. In-depth interviews by a psychology faculty member, focusing on students' progress and evolving identity through the program, will provide qualitative information and feedback about the program.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.