Alliances for Success

The National Science Foundation's Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) is a multidisciplinary undergraduate program featuring an organizational structure of multiple institutions working together toward a shared goal. These alliances include partners from two‐and four‐year degree granting higher education institutions, business and industries, national research laboratories, and local, state and federal agencies. The overarching aim of the partnerships, to increase significantly the quantity and quality of underrepresented minority students who graduate with a degree in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines, is shared by all partner institutions, laboratories and agencies. Federal agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Energy (DOE) and Smithsonian continue in partnership and collaboration with LSAMP. Currently, 35 alliances with approximately 450 institutions, ranging from citywide (e.g. New York City), to statewide (e.g. California, Oklahoma, Illinois, North Carolina), to multistate (e.g. Florida‐Georgia, Massachusetts‐Rhode Island‐Connecuticut, Alaska‐Hawaii‐Washington), to the U.S. Commonwealth, Puerto Rico, are supported by the LSAMP program. The Western Alliance to Expand Student Opportunities (WAESO‐LSAMP) with 4l partners in six states, and the All Nations‐LSAMP comprising 36 partners in 12 states, are the larger and more wide ranging of these partnerships. In contrast, in terms of number of institutions, the University System of Maryland‐LSAMP with three partners, is the smallest. Notably, the LSAMP partnerships bring together public and private institutions that are Majority schools, (many are Research I), Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), Tribal Colleges (TCs), and Community Colleges (CC). The 2000 Westat Report* studied programs at NASA, NIH and NSF which promote participation of underrepresented undergraduate students in STEM fields. This study identified six keys to LSAMP's success as follows: Summer bridge programs Research experience Mentoring Drop‐in Center Caring staff Alliance structure Also, the study reported a high degree of cooperation between alliance members; while at the same time, each partner retained autonomy in conducting its program. Findings from a new and more in‐depth evaluation report conducted by the Urban Institute (UI) will be discussed in this ASBMB presentation. The UI evaluation report, is entitled, “Revitalizing the Nation's Talent Pool in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.” *Westat Report. 2000 (December). NSF 01‐31. Programs Promoting Participation of Underrepresented Undergraduate Students in Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology Fields.