Bridging the gap: National Science Foundation initiative eases the transition from undergraduate to graduate study

Black Issues in Higher Education, July 29, 2004 by Crystal L. Keels

"One thing we have to impress to students is that they need to make a decision about when they are going to MIT or Stanford," says Brathwaite, adding that the nurturing environment of the BD initiative gives students the foundation they need to succeed in any setting.

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS

"The biggest advantage of having this program is to make students feel comfortable that they can start and complete a Ph.D. program," says Dr. Patricia L. Stith, coordinator of the Florida-Georgia Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (FGLSAMP), a coalition of 12 institutions based at Florida State University. A significant aspect of establishing that comfort is that 10 BD students with similar academic interests simultaneously enter graduate programs at the same institutions.

"It's in that group that they will find strength," Stith says.

And that group becomes part of the culture at participating institutions as well. During one of the First activities at Florida State University last Fall, for example, BD students interacted with advanced graduate students, undergraduate students and faculty members in physical challenges designed to foster a cooperative environment.

Workshops on preparing for graduate school, securing funding, sessions with faculty members about successful careers in the academy and a group GRE session were also all part of the students' first year experiences.

"We are very proud to be one of the first recipients of the Bridge to the Doctorate program," says Stith. "It is a direct way of meeting the need of diversifying science, technical engineering and mathematics faculties throughout the country. It's a serious national security need," she adds.

Dr. Ricardo B. Jacquez, project director/ program coordinator of the New Mexico Alliance for Minority Participation based at New Mexico State University, also notes the larger implications of the BD initiative.

"The diversity of the role models in STEM is going to change in a way that is going to provide examples and encourage underrepresented students to look to becoming professors, researchers and contribute to the intellectual development of this country," he says.

Jacquez says BD will produce highly qualified individuals who will become part of the intellectual infrastructure necessary to keep the nation at the international forefront in arenas like space exploration and the environment. "We need to make sure we remain competitive," he says.

"They have to cultivate and make it work; we have to plant the seeds," Jacquez says about the roles and responsibilities of individual students and the BD initiative itself.

Those seeds have already started to take root.

"I am a young scientist in training, and I should regard myself as one," says Charity Mobley, BD participant at Jackson State University. "I never thought of myself as a scientist before. I should take this opportunity to network and make my presence known."

Even as she acknowledges the rigors of graduate study, Mobley says she intends to complete a doctorate in chemistry and work in forensic toxicology. She says the contacts she makes through BD are essential to making that happen. This summer, for example, she is working as an intern in an environmental toxicology unit at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, an agency of the Department of Defense in Washington.