Su-Seng Pang - US grants

9451296 Diwan The nation's industrial sectors are reiterating the fact that product quality, reliability and cost containment must be vigorously pursued if the United States will continue to be the world's technological leader, and also remain competitive in the market place. This has reawakened a new emphasis on engineering education geared towards design and production. This project proposes to enhance the manufacturing laboratory and curriculum of Southern University at Baton Rouge, Louisiana by adding Computer Numerically Controlled machines. The proposed equipment would enable the faculty: to provide undergraduate students with quality training opportunities and skills that reflect the technological advances in the manufacturing industry; to develop new laboratory courses in computer aided design and computer aided manufacturing - CAD/CAM; to take a step further in developing a strong manufacturing option for undergraduate Engineering and Technology students as well as graduate students in computer science; to strengthen the curriculum, offer students hands-on practical experience, and a familiarity with equipment they will use in the industry; and to enhance the capacity of Southern University to contribute immensely towards the engineering and science educational goals for minorities in Louisiana, and the United States.

Su-Seng Pang
Louisiana State University (LSU)/Southern University (SU)
HRD-9814716
In addition to his research and teaching responsibilities as a Professor at LSU and as an adjunct Professor at SU, Dr. Pang advises and supports at least 30 minority undergraduate engineering/science students per year. He is also a leader in the State of Louisiana in supervising engineering/science minority Ph.D. students. Current mentees include three African American doctoral students. Former mentees include four doctoral degree recipients, one of whom recently joined the SU faculty. Dr. Pang is one of the State leaders among university faculty members promoting mathematics and science for middle and high school students.

9820369
Louisiana State University
Dr. Su-Seng Pang

The objectives of this project are to: (1) enhance the technical and educational backgrounds of undergraduate students by offering more collaborative research activities; (2) increase the number of well prepared undergraduate students, especially minorities, entering graduate school by providing vital information and necessary training for their admission to and success in graduate school; (3) promote intercultural participation among non-minority and minority students; (4) assist students in their development towards obtaining employment in high level engineering jobs; and (5) enhance students' computer capacities by integrating these skills into composite engineering applications. Undergraduate students in their junior and senior years of study will participate in this project. They will be recruited from Louisiana State University, the state's flagship institution, and Southern University, the largest HBCU (Historically Black College and University) in the nation. The 16 selected students per year (about half will be minority) will participate in selected projects of composite materials, co-advised by academic mentors and industrial supervisors. By affording non-minority and minority students the opportunity to work together on projects, cultural interaction will allow the different races to learn more about one another. The investigators will assign projects to the undergraduate students, which deal with any of the above sources addressing their petrochemical and offshore applications, as these industries are very important to the economic developments in Louisiana and in the nation. Each participant will receive professional counseling and instruction concerning graduate school admissions and funding. Participants will attend monthly seminars dealing with improved technical writing, graduate school survival (especially for minorities), and ethical issues in engineering. The investigators have confidence that the program will be a successful national model of how a majority white and a historically black institution can jointly develop and assist undergraduate students in developing research skills needed for industry, as well as for graduate studies.

(99), (59), (21) The College of Engineering and two departments, Mathematics and Experimental Statistics, are increasing the opportunities for academically talented students who are willing, but financially unable to reach their fullest potential. This is being achieved through a student/faculty partnership, with a comprehensive monitoring system, under the sponsorship of the NSF/CSEMS program. About one-fifth of the undergraduate students attending the university during the Fall-1998 (5,537 of 24,773) were eligible to receive a Pell Grant.

The objectives of this project are: (1) to improve the education of students in engineering and mathematics, (2) to increase the retention of students to degree attainment, (3) to increase the number of undergraduates, including minorities and women, receiving baccalaureate degrees in engineering and mathematics, as well as master's degrees in mathematics; (4) to improve the professional development and employment and further higher education placement of participating students, and (5) to strengthen partnerships between institutions of higher education and related employment sectors. The students that are selected will benefit by joining the academic enhancement activities of two unique ongoing NSF/REU programs. The CSEMS scholars will not be required to conduct research but will be offered the opportunity to do so. This project is resulting in students being well-prepared and technically competent engineers and mathematicians.

The 32 students selected each year will participate in research projects of their choice in engineering or mathematics. About half of the 32 students selected CSEMS are minorities and/or and women. The students are co-advised by academic mentors.. The engineering students are juniors and seniors, and the mathematics students are a mix of undergraduate and graduate students. About 25% (4-8) of the students are from the mathematics and experimental statistics departments. Moreover, the addition of graduate students to current projects provides first-hand insight to the undergraduate about graduate studies.

Since mathematics is one of the building blocks for engineers, closer interaction between students and faculty increases the levels of understanding for both. This project expands the learning community and provides an exciting way to enhance students' academic, social and personal success at the university. The investigators believe that this educational program is a successful national model to assist students in gaining the educational skills needed for industry and graduate studies through various sponsored activities including: 1) Retention, 2) Professional Development, 3) Graduate School, and 4) Dissemination.

Graduate Alliance for Education in Louisiana

PROJECT SUMMARY

We propose to establish an alliance for increasing diversity in graduate education and the professoriate in Louisiana. Alliance partners will include Tulane and Louisiana State University (the two Carnegie Research I universities in the state and the institutions responsible for 94% of the minority doctoral degree production in the state between 1994-2001), Xavier University of Louisiana, Dillard University, and Southern University Baton Rouge and New Orleans. The Graduate Alliance for Education in Louisiana (GAELA) will build upon existing minority SME research training programs at these institutions, and develop new programs to encourage more minority students to pursue SME graduate education and academic careers. One of the goals of the GAELA project will be the early identification and nurturing of promising students during their undergraduate years. A concerted effort will be made to recruit doctoral fellows from participants in LS-LAMP, the College Fund - Xavier AMP, and other pre-graduate training programs in the state. We expect that the nurturing students receive in these programs, and the familiarity they gain working with faculty at Tulane and LSU will increase their chances of successfully completing their doctoral training.

The second major goal of the GAELA Program will be to affect significant change in the culture of graduate education at the State of Louisiana's top research universities in order to significantly increase minority SME doctoral degree production. We have set a numerical goal of 45 Ph.D. per year by 2006, more than triple the 2001 annual output on minority doctoral degrees. The project has a strong component of recruitment and early exposure of students to academic career opportunities focused on participating HBCU's, and a variety of retention activities focused on the two graduate research institutions.

The recruitment component consists of exposing students at HBCU's to study and academic career opportunities at LSU and Tulane through recruiting visits by LSU and Tulane faculty, annual recruitment fairs on Tulane and LSU campuses, and involving HBCU students in Tulane/LSU faculty-mentored research. We will establish GAELA campus programs at Xavier, Dillard, SUBR and SUNO to coordinate these activities. The retention component will consist of mentoring workshops for Tulane and LSU faculty, awarding research funds and professional travel grants to doctoral students that are making satisfactory progress toward completing their degrees, SME academic career training sessions, and #I survival sessions" for helping minority students cope with the majority graduate educational environment.

Abstract
In many mechanical and aerodynamic systems structural strength, stability and lightness are of primary
importance. The stability of a structure with a specified support and external loading can be characterized by
an eigenvalue problem whose solution determines the non-trivial equilibrium configurations of the system.
The maximum external load that can be imposed on the structure is determined by the least eigenvalue of the
system. The problem of designing an optimal structure that can support the largest load is more involved. It requires
the determination of structural parameters, e.g., the variable cross-sectional area of the structure, which
maximize the least eigenvalue of the system. An important example is due to Lagrange, who attempted to
determine the shape of the strongest column with a specific length and mass. This apparently simple problem
remained unsolved for more than one hundred and fifty years. Its analytical solution is still surrounded by
controversy.
The main thrust of this research is that the standard optimization procedure is by no means the best way to
address the structural optimization problem involved. Depending on the failure criterion, there is a certain
relation between the structural mode of failure and the physical parameters of the optimal structure. In the
Lagrange problem the maximum bending stress in the ideal column is constant along its length. This condition
implies that the square of the fundamental buckling mode is proportional to the cube of the cross-sectional area
for the optimal column. This relation was vital in determining the exact analytical solution to the problem. It
also plays a major role in the new methodology proposed here, which consists of two stages:
(a) Determining the relation between the mode-shape of failure and the physical parameters of the optimal
structure. This relation leads to an eigenvalue problem where elements of the stiffness matrix are known
functions of an eigenvector of the system, and
(b) Solving the inverse eigenvalue problem of determining the unknown parameters in the stiffness matrix
subject to the eigenvector constraint.
The project has practical engineering applications in new and emerging technologies related to fabrication
of microstructures and their integration in new generation of mechanical components. Another important
application of the proposed research is in design of safe, reliable, and lightweight aerospace structures
The proposed activity will also contribute to the curriculum development of Machine Design Lab and
Stress Analysis. The students will take part in a design competition involving optimal design of structures
The project will support disadvantaged minority students by (a) directly involving them in the research,
and (b) stimulating their interest in advancing themselves to pursue graduate study

With this award, Connie Stelly, Saundra McGuire, Su-Seng Pang, Gregory Vincent, and Isiah Warner of LSU will lead the establishment of the Louisiana State University Research Scholars Program (LA-STEM). LA-STEM is a strategically planned, cooperative, comprehensive activity that will put in place at LSU a system that will increase the numbers of minority students - primarily African Americans - who obtain undergraduate degrees in science, engineering, and mathematics, and who go on to graduate degrees in these fields. The LA-STEM strategy is to (1) identify pre-college (high school) students with high potential for achievement and recruit them for the program; (2) facilitate the development of these students' necessary skills and competencies in addition to their undergraduate education in a STEM discipline that will (3) prepare these students to go on to earn graduate degrees in their STEM disciplines.

Modeled after the widely-acclaimed University of Maryland - Baltimore County 'Meyerhoff Scholars Program,' LA-STEM is projected to reach ~ 115 students in the initial five-year period of the activity through a disciplined combination of 'innovative intervention activities' including:
A Summer Bridge Program prior to the freshman fall semester;
Association with a faculty mentor upon acceptance into the program;
Peer advising and counseling along with academic program advising and counseling;
Monthly social and informational sessions;
A sustained On-Campus Academic Year Internship/Research Experience beginning the fall semester of the freshman year;
Intensive On- and Off-Campus Summer Internships/Research Experiences;
Professional Conference Participations and Presentations;
Tutoring and Workshops for instruction in essential skills for academic and personal success;
Communication Skills Instruction that will help to develop a positive self-concept and increased self-confidence;
Instruction in applying Study Skills and Personal Skills for the successful completion of the undergraduate program;
Coaching for the successful Admittance to Graduate Programs across the country through Graduate Preparation Workshops (application and interview process, test preparation, etc.); and
Career Planning Workshops.

It is expected that outcomes of the LA-STEM project will guide further diversification of undergraduate STEM majors.

0440490

The project aims are (1) to better prepare students from the large and mostly underserved EBRPSS school system to meet high academic standards in collegiate STEM disciplines, (2) to foster the appreciation and capability of college students for high quality STEM teaching methods, and (3) to graduate high-caliber U.S. research doctorates who are well-prepared for content-oriented training of prospective secondary math and science teachers at colleges and universities in the U.S. Supported by NSF's STEM Teacher Preparation and R. Noyce Scholarship Programs, LSU's newly redesigned secondary STEM certification program features extensive field based preparation and broad-based collaboration among university faculty and a cadre of highly qualified STEM mentor teachers from EBRPSS. In this project, the mentor teachers help to identify each year eight pairs of math and science teachers who welcome the support of GK-12 Fellows and the professional development opportunities provided. Each teacher pair works with a Graduate Fellow and two Undergraduate Fellows throughout the academic year. Graduate Fellows spend ten hours a week providing direct assistance to the two teachers, with time given off for assignments for other GK-12 Tasks, such as presentations of .Discovery Kits within the LSU Science on Wheels Program. Undergraduate Fellows provide a wide range of instructional support in Math Labs they organize.

The intellectual merit of the proposal is based upon the extensive experience of the participating STEM investigators in the project, the breadth and depth of leadership and infrastructure provided by LSU, and the strong partnership among the university faculty and a corps of dedicated middle and high school mentor teachers. The project allows the testing of a model to enhance the scope and quality of undergraduate and graduate education at a large state university by helping to improve mathematics and science education in a school district that embodies all of the challenges that are faced by many districts nationwide, including low performing schools, a large minority population, and schools with a high proportion of economically disadvantaged students.

The broader impacts include an increased interest of faculty in academic STEM departments in K-12 math and science education, an increase in recruitment rates of high school students into STEM disciplines, especially among minorities and/or women, and an increase in the number of strong research-doctorates in STEM disciplines that are better prepared to provide content-based instruction to prospective secondary teachers as well as to in-service secondary teachers. Through careful documentation and dissemination of the project results, this project will have applications across the country, particularly in research universities that are in close proximity to school systems plagued by low student performance and a dearth of students being offered challenging STEM curricula.

This award to co-investigators Connie Stelly, Lisa Batiste-Evans, Saundra McGuire, Su-Seng Pang, and Isiah Warner will support twenty undergraduate research students each year for a period of three years. The research context in which these students will be working is broadly multidisciplinary and provides opportunities for first and second year undergraduates to pursue research projects under the tutelage of their choice of 24 faculty members with active research programs in departments ranging from biology to chemistry to chemical engineering to mechanical engineering to computational science to physics to astronomy and beyond. The students will be drawn from two diverse pools: The NSF/LA-STEM Research Scholars and the HHMI Professors Program Scholars. The NSF/LA-STEM program is a joint NSF - Research Corporation - State of Louisiana collaboration that has an overall mission of increasing the number of underrepresented students receiving terminal degrees in the STEM disciplines. It is modeled after the widely recognized Meyerhoff Scholars Program at UMBC and has, to date, produced outstanding results as measured by the scholastic achievement of a very diverse cadre of undergraduates. Co-mingling these students with those supported as HHMI Professors Program Scholars brings into the mix a group of quite good peer mentors, and aspect of undergraduate training emphasized in the HHMI program.

This award provides a unique opportunity for undergraduates to enjoy research experiences as integral parts of their undergraduate training. The faculty with whom the students will work is an impressive lot and equally impressive is the list of PIs and Co-PIs, which includes two Presidential Awardees for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring (Warner and Sang).

The Department of Computer Science, National Center for Security Research and Training, and Office of Strategic Initiatives at Louisiana State University in collaboration with Southern University and Louisiana Tech University are providing educational and pedagogical opportunities for academically talented faculty in information assurance and security.

Intellectual merit. The project, "Multi-University Research and Training in Information Assurance and Computer Security," engages faculty scholars in a series of faculty development activities that include a summer workshop, national lab/research center visits, academic year mini-grants, and a conference in information assurance and computer security. Program activities are being offered through two phases. During the first phase faculty participate in a 2-week summer workshop and national lab/research center visits that focus on state-of-the-art research training and various enhancement activities. During the second phase, faculty scholars receive academic year mini-grants that extend research and education training to the home institutions and participate in an annual conference that serves as a consolidation of experience exchange and national dissemination.

Broader impacts. The focus of this research and training is to increase the number of US citizens, including members of under-represented groups, who are advancing their teaching and research in the emerging areas of information assurance and security. The interaction of distinguished experts from National Laboratories, the LSU National Center for Security Research and Training provides coordinated efforts in security research and training by both state and federal law enforcement agencies. The integration of research and education, and broader cross-disciplinary activities is an important component of the inter-institutional collaborative work. This project expands the learning community and provides a way to enhance faculty's academic preparation and to establish partnerships for research and education in information assurance and computer security.

Engineering - 99

This project is awarding scholarships to thirty students annually within the fields of science and mathematics. They are recruiting high school students who have demonstrated great potential for success and retaining them through the implementation of various student support and mentoring programs. The project is enhancing the students' educational experiences through workshops, seminars, K-12 and community outreach opportunities. Each scholar is participating in computer technology training through the LSU Student Application and Resource Training (START) Program.

Each scholar is creating a portfolio of academic work that is annually updated. Progress is being measured based on student academic performance, progress in computer technology, and their participation and attendance in the project academic enhancement activities. Graduation interviews are providing additional insight to project improvement.

This award renews NSF support of the Louisiana State University Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Research Scholars Program (LA-STEM). LA-STEM is a multidisciplinary pilot program designed to increase the number of underrepresented students who receive baccalaureate and doctoral degrees in STEM disciplines, and to demonstrate a successful model for this goal that can be ported, in whole or in part, to other institutional settings. It is a research-based activity targeting the holistic development of a highly achieving workforce. LA-STEM combines six primary components ? recruitment, selection, a summer bridge, mentoring, education, and research to achieve its objectives of maintaining a steady-state population of 80 LA-STEM Scholars, recruiting approximately 15-20 new students each year; sustaining a minimum 75% retention rate of LA-STEM Scholars through graduation within five years; and facilitating the enrollment of at least 50% of these students in Ph.D. programs in STEM areas within three years of their graduation from LSU.

The intellectual merit of this project is that it builds a model for student success in the STEM disciplines through a study of the effectiveness of the LA-STEM Research Scholars Program. The broader impacts of the project lie in its potential to impact education in the STEM disciplines through (1) creating a pool of well-prepared graduate students, (2) broadening participation of women and underrepresented minorities in the STEM disciplines, (3) encouraging diversity in an educational landscape historically marked by segregation, and (4) encouraging development of programs that integrate undergraduate education, research, and mentoring by showing that models such as LA-STEM and Meyerhoff can be successfully adapted to fit the contexts of individual institutions.

The Louisiana Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LS-LAMP) Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) Program is a collaborative effort between the National Science Foundation and Louisiana higher education institutions to increase the quality and quantity of underrepresented minorities matriculating to completion of the doctoral degree in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields (STEM) fields. The program at Louisiana State University (LSU) prepares students to meet the challenges of completing doctoral programs of study and for academic careers in higher education. In addition, the program develops leadership skills necessary for success in the STEM workforce nationally and internationally.

Integrating research and education, the BD fellows will be nurtured over two years as a cohorted community that will benefit from a program of academic and personal development activities as well as social support to sustain their commitment and success to the terminal Ph.D. STEM degree. Program activities include linkages to the Graduate Alliance for Education in Louisiana (Louisiana AGEP), and the Louisiana Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research as well as other NSF-funded research and education projects.

A total of 12 students from underrepresented minority populations in STEM fields will participate in the program at LSU during the 2008-2010 academic years. Results from this support will broaden the participation of African-Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and Pacific-Islanders in the STEM pipeline, U. S. workforce and abroad. Results from rigorous evaluation of the project will add to the body of literature in the recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority students in STEM fields.

The ?Integration of Education and Mentoring Programs at Louisiana State University? is an
institutional effort designed to integrate a large number of on-going programs at LSU, especially those led by the newly established Louisiana State University (LSU) Office of Strategic Initiatives and LSU?s Gordon A. Cain Center for Scientific, Technological, Engineering and Mathematical Literacy. The PI/Co-PIs have altogether 50 on-going education/mentoring/research grants; the majority of those are funded by NSF. These projects are currently supporting over 50 Ph.D. students, 300 undergraduate students, hundreds of high school teachers, and thousands of K-12 students. Therefore, an integration of those programs under the umbrella of NSF/Innovation through Institutional Integration (I3) is appropriate. While all other projects on campus will be invited to participate, we will ensure that, under the overall leadership of OSI, the integration and coordination of a critical pool of core projects will be made through their PI/Co-PIs.

Integration of the various projects will be a challenging bureaucratic, cultural and programmatic enterprise. It will be necessary to cross department and college boundaries, address different academic cultures and norms, and ensure the integrity of the programs, especially with regard to adding to and not diluting their impact. To accomplish this, the integration efforts will be coordinated by OSI and led by the PIs/Co-PIs of the various projects. The I3 project will focus on the following: (1) Consolidation of Summer Workshops and Camps for Students, Teachers and Faculty Members; (2) Leadership Training in Academics through a Student-Governing Organization; (3) High School Math Tutoring Program by College Students; (4) Mentoring High School Louisiana Science and Engineering Fair Projects by College Students; and (5) Integration of Research into Education in Materials Engineering and Science.

The Departments of Computer Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering as well as the National Center for Security Research and Training, and the Office of Strategic Initiatives at Louisiana State University jointly aim to increase the educational and pedagogical opportunities for academically talented faculty in information assurance and security. The focus of this project is to increase the number of US citizens, including members of under-represented groups, who will advance their teaching and research in the emerging areas of information assurance and security. Six Faculty/Student Scholar pairs are participating in a two-year training program. The training program is a series of development activities that include summer workshops, national lab/research center visits, and academic year mini-grants.

Scholars explore open scientific problems in the protection of mission-critical information infrastructures including wide-area network threat detection and reasoning about complex events using model-based approaches to vulnerability analysis. Scholars also develop training and pedagogical materials for use at their home institutions. Distinguished scholars from national and homeland security laboratories work in collaboration with the LSU National Center for Security Research and Training to encourage research in information assurance and security and to extend the community of scholars.

The goal of this project is to construct an academic support program that meets the needs of financially disadvantaged students. Over the four-year grant period, 30 need-based scholarships are provided to qualified science, mathematics, and technology students at Louisiana State University. The students are participating in a variety of activities, including academic advising and mentoring, Individual Development Plans, academic and professional development activities, academic enhancement program, and research training activities provided by the faculty mentors in the sciences and math disciplines. The project increases the number of well-prepared undergraduates, including woman and minorities, entering graduate school or industry. The project also promotes inter-cultural participation among non-minority and minority students and faculty members.

The US Census Bureau reports that African, Hispanic, and Native Americans comprise some
30% of the US population, however only 16% of the undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics (STEM) degrees and less than 3% of the doctoral STEM degrees produced within the US are
awarded to students from these groups! It is in the nation?s best interest to support innovations that test
strategies to increase the success groups underrepresented in the STEM disciplines, not simply for reasons
of equity or social justice, but because these students are an untapped potential in fulfilling the STEM
workforce needs of today and tomorrow.
The proposed, ?BD-Cohort 5 ? LA-BRIDGE: Louisiana Broadening Resources for Increasing
Diversity in Graduate Education,? represents a transformative and strategic institutional approach to
build human resource capital at the doctoral level. In this endeavor, Louisiana State University (LSU), a
state-supported Carnegie Research Extensive Institution, nationally designated as both land-grant and seagrant,
will serve as the Bridging Institution. The project features strong inter-institutional collaborations
between colleges and universities throughout the Senior Level Louis Stokes (LS) Louisiana Alliance for
Minority Participation (LAMP); intra-institutional collaborations between the LSU Offices of Academic
Affairs, Strategic Initiatives, and Research and Economic Development as well as the LSU Center for
Academic Success; and international collaborations between LSU and the French Alternative Energies
and Atomic Energy Commission in Grenoble (CEA Grenoble).
The vision of LA-BRIDGE is to create a successful model to increase minority student
persistence and global competitiveness at the doctoral level, an effective model with well-tested
strategies, which can be adopted nationwide. The goals of LA-BRIDGE are a logical extension of the
goals of the LS-LAMP Senior Alliance: (a) to increase the quality and number of minority STEM
students pursuing doctoral degrees at the bridge institution; (b) increase the retention to graduation rate of
minority STEM PhD students; and (c) investigate a national model for increasing the share of minority
STEM PhD holders. The objectives
of LAMP-BD are: (1) to provide systemic mentoring that includes
effective faculty-to-student/student-to-student interactions that work collectively to increase the number
of minorities earning PhD degrees in STEM fields; (2) facilitate academic support structures that increase
students? acclimations to the rigors of doctoral study; and (3) expose minorities to international research
experiences that prepare them for long-term scholarly engagement in the global STEM research
enterprise; (4) to promote, guide and support the transition of these PhD degree-holders into the STEM
research workforce with emphasis on the professoriate; and (5) to achieve self-sustainability by
expanding, and institutionalizing the systemic mentoring, and research infrastructure enhancements and
activities across the state.
Intellectual Merit: LA-BRIDGE will provide strategic and transformative leadership in
designing effective LS-LAMP inter-institutional and multi-national alliances that improve the quality of
STEM education for PhD students. This project will cultivate and test systemic mentoring strategies that
have been designed to increase minority student matriculation and graduation from PhD programs.
Moreover, the project will explore models to enhance the ability of LSAMP students to be more effective
researchers in a global environment. The scientific basis of the mentoring model and its related activities,
the publication in system mentoring and educational research, lend themselves to the development of best
practices for graduate education and professional development. Further, the research to be conducted by
BD scholars will contribute to scientific and technological innovations spanning the STEM disciplines.
Broader Impact: LA-BRIDGE will increase minority student access to STEM PhDs. The salient
project impacts are a) the increase in the number of high quality PhD level researchers from
underrepresented minority communities who will pursue research careers in the STEM academic,
industrial, and governmental enterprise; b) the consequent contribution to and the development of a more
qualified and diversified workforce; c) the wide-spread dissemination of the best practices of system
mentoring for graduate studies and professional development; and d) the significant enhancement of
institutional graduate education and research infrastructure. Further, this project will benefit society by
enhancing the ability of its graduate students to thrive in an international research environment.

The US Census Bureau reports that African, Hispanic, and Native Americans comprise some
30% of the US population, however only 16% of the undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics (STEM) degrees and less than 3% of the doctoral STEM degrees produced within the US are
awarded to students from these groups! It is in the nation?s best interest to support innovations that test
strategies to increase the success groups underrepresented in the STEM disciplines, not simply for reasons
of equity or social justice, but because these students are an untapped potential in fulfilling the STEM
workforce needs of today and tomorrow.
The proposed, ?BD-Cohort 5 ? LA-BRIDGE: Louisiana Broadening Resources for Increasing
Diversity in Graduate Education,? represents a transformative and strategic institutional approach to
build human resource capital at the doctoral level. In this endeavor, Louisiana State University (LSU), a
state-supported Carnegie Research Extensive Institution, nationally designated as both land-grant and seagrant,
will serve as the Bridging Institution. The project features strong inter-institutional collaborations
between colleges and universities throughout the Senior Level Louis Stokes (LS) Louisiana Alliance for
Minority Participation (LAMP); intra-institutional collaborations between the LSU Offices of Academic
Affairs, Strategic Initiatives, and Research and Economic Development as well as the LSU Center for
Academic Success; and international collaborations between LSU and the French Alternative Energies
and Atomic Energy Commission in Grenoble (CEA Grenoble).
The vision of LA-BRIDGE is to create a successful model to increase minority student
persistence and global competitiveness at the doctoral level, an effective model with well-tested
strategies, which can be adopted nationwide. The goals of LA-BRIDGE are a logical extension of the
goals of the LS-LAMP Senior Alliance: (a) to increase the quality and number of minority STEM
students pursuing doctoral degrees at the bridge institution; (b) increase the retention to graduation rate of
minority STEM PhD students; and (c) investigate a national model for increasing the share of minority
STEM PhD holders. The objectives of LAMP-BD are: (1) to provide systemic mentoring that includes
effective faculty-to-student/student-to-student interactions that work collectively to increase the number
of minorities earning PhD degrees in STEM fields; (2) facilitate academic support structures that increase
students? acclimations to the rigors of doctoral study; and (3) expose minorities to international research
experiences that prepare them for long-term scholarly engagement in the global STEM research
enterprise; (4) to promote, guide and support the transition of these PhD degree-holders into the STEM
research workforce with emphasis on the professoriate; and (5) to achieve self-sustainability by
expanding, and institutionalizing the systemic mentoring, and research infrastructure enhancements and
activities across the state.
Intellectual Merit: LA-BRIDGE will provide strategic and transformative leadership in
designing effective LS-LAMP inter-institutional and multi-national alliances that improve the quality of
STEM education for PhD students. This project will cultivate and test systemic mentoring strategies that
have been designed to increase minority student matriculation and graduation from PhD programs.
Moreover, the project will explore models to enhance the ability of LSAMP students to be more effective
researchers in a global environment. The scientific basis of the mentoring model and its related activities,
the publication in system mentoring and educational research, lend themselves to the development of best
practices for graduate education and professional development. Further, the research to be conducted by
BD scholars will contribute to scientific and technological innovations spanning the STEM disciplines.
Broader Impact: LA-BRIDGE will increase minority student access to STEM PhDs. The salient
project impacts are a) the increase in the number of high quality PhD level researchers from
underrepresented minority communities who will pursue research careers in the STEM academic,
industrial, and governmental enterprise; b) the consequent contribution to and the development of a more
qualified and diversified workforce; c) the wide-spread dissemination of the best practices of system
mentoring for graduate studies and professional development; and d) the significant enhancement of
institutional graduate education and research infrastructure. Further, this project will benefit society by
enhancing the ability of its graduate students to thrive in an international research environment