According to UK’s release, the grant will fund a Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) initiative for KY-WV LSAMP, a consortium of 10 colleges and universities working together to broaden participation and increase the quality and quantity of underrepresented students in STEM. The new program will support 12 BD fellows from underrepresented populations who are pursuing graduate degrees in STEM disciplines at UK. Each fellow will receive a $32,000 per year stipend as well as support for cost of education for two years through the grant. Fellows will also receive coaching, academic and community support, professional development, and access to opportunities for research, writing and presentation.
Marshall’s LSAMP campus coordinator and principal investigator, Maurice Cooley, said as a seasoned member of the KY-WV LSAMP alliance, Marshall University has strongly supported University of Kentucky’s NSF application to become a Bridge to the Doctorate status university.
“With this great news, our LSAMP student graduates at Marshall will now have direct access to STEM doctoral programs at nearby UK, as well as to over 100 more universities around the country. We have built very close ties to UK and now our participating students will have a strong pathway to highly affordable Ph.D. degrees in numerous fields of study and research,” Cooley, vice president of student affairs and intercultural affairs, said. “In addition to our own unique intensive supports and undergraduate research opportunities, it is time to celebrate these new opportunities for Marshall’s minority STEM scholars. As the LSAMP campus coordinator and PI, I am overjoyed by this achievement and the future for our Marshall graduating scholars.”
David Cartwright, campus director of the university’s LSAMP program, said Marshall students have been a core part of the KY-WV LSAMP alliance for over 10 years.
“Students in LSAMP at Marshall University participate in monthly meetings that encourage and facilitate success, including tutoring, mentoring and paths to undergraduate research,” Cartwright said. “Upcoming LSAMP programming includes trips to conferences for professional development such as the Women of Color and the Black Engineer of the Year Awards conferences. These two conferences are places where all people explore the challenges and celebrate the victories of underrepresented students and professionals.”
According to the release, since receiving renewed funding in 2018, KY-WV LSAMP has grown from 280 to 378 student participants, with over 50% of its graduating students continuing their education in graduate programs.
Underrepresented students at Marshall who are interested in the STEM fields are encouraged to learn more about becoming involved by visiting https://www.marshall.edu/intercultural/lsamp/ or contacting Cooley by e-mail at cooley@marshall.edu.
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Photo: KY-WV LSAMP students are shown at a research symposium in March 2018. The program has received $1 million in new funding from the NSF to support graduate students pursuing STEM degrees at UK, and Marshall University LSAMP students will benefit from this support.