LSAMP Grant aimed for students in STEM field
Several universities in the New Hampshire area are working to propose the Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) grant to increase the representation and inclusion of minority students going into Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields.
UNH is a leading institution for this proposal.
While the proposal is still in the developing stages, the potential grant aims to focus on finding pathways from two-year programs to UNH in order to help carry on research, keep retention rates of these underrepresented students and help students secure jobs in desired STEM fields.
“Every major research university wants to have one of these programs, and the fact that we got a planning grant to go after the full grant is a really good indicator that we’re on the right path,” Dean of the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences Dr. Wayne Jones said.
Some institutions involved in this process are Salem State University, Nashua Community College, New England College, Manchester Community College, Northern Essex Community College, University of Southern Maine and Southern Maine Community College.
Jones also explained that this program will help create more diverse leadership roles and role models for students, in addition to creating opportunities for students who are underrepresented in STEM disciplines.
“… oftentimes we make decisions based on the role models we see before us, and we don’t have the most diverse role model set, and I think LSAMP can help us create more of that,” Jones said.
According to Dr. Steve Hale, a member of UNH’s Leitzel Center and a leading member of the effort for the proposal, one of the problems that lead to this grant proposal is the lack of representation in STEM fields for minority students.
“The minority groups that we deal with are underrepresented… we’re trying to improve awareness and mechanisms. It’s not about making anybody advantaged or disadvantaged or viewing it through those types of lenses,” Hale said.
According to Hale, this grant provides many beneficial ideas and actions for creating pathways for minority students. The grant will help provide opportunities for more minority students to flow into UNH, give the support necessary to create success while here, provide research opportunities, and carry students past graduation into work forces of their desired field.
This program will also help to show all students what types of skills they can develop and the possible career paths they will be able to follow by going into the STEM disciplines, according to Hale.
Jones believes programs like this are critical, and can create opportunities for many students both in and out of STEM disciplines. He explained that we need more opportunities to give students hands-on experiences to engage with their discipline, engage with career opportunities and career paths beyond their major.
“I also think we have to understand that you have to have many different approaches to solve a problem […]. We need to find lots of different perspectives; cultural perspectives, social perspectives, and therefore I think more of these programs that give students hands on opportunities are absolutely critical.” Explains Dr. Jones.
With the full proposal to be submitted on Nov. 17, many of the final details are still being worked out. The hopes of this grant proposal remain high, and if passed will hopefully create many beneficial opportunities for underrepresented students across the northern New England area.