The Fisk-Vanderbilt Master's-to-Ph.D. Bridge Program: Recognizing, enlisting, and cultivating unrealized or unrecognized potential in underrepresented minority students

American Journal of Physics

Volumn 79, Issue 4, 2011, Pages 374-379

  Stassun, Keivan G ^a,b   Sturm, Susan ^c   Holley Bockelmann, Kelly ^a,b   Burger, Arnold ^b,d   Ernst, David J ^a,b   Webb, Donna ^a,b  

^a VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b Department of Physics ^*  (United States)

^c Columbia University Law School ^*  (United States)

^d FISK UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 79952576446     PISSN: 00029505     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1119/1.3546069     Document Type: Article

References (22)

1. As defined by the National Science Foundation, underrepresented minorities are U.S. citizens and permanent residents who identify as African American, Hispanic/Latino, and/or Native American.
2. Women, minorities, and persons with disabilities in science and engineering: 2009. 2009, National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources Statistics, NSF 09-305 〈〉.
3. Stassun K.G. 2010, Congressional testimony delivered to the U.S. House of Representatives Science and Technology Committee, 16 March 〈〉.
4. Stassun K.G. Building bridges to diversity. Mercury 2005, 34:22-27.
5. Nelson D. Lopez L. The diversity of tenure track astronomy faculty. 2004, and American Astronomical Committee on the Status of Minorities in Astronomy, Spectrum Newsletter, June.
6. Minority-serving institutions include Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic Serving Institutions, and Indian Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities, Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, and Alaska Native Serving Institutions. See 〈〉.
7. Norman D. Underrepresented minorities in astronomy: Higher education. 2009, position paper submitted to the Astro2010 National Academy of Sciences decadal survey in astronomy and astrophysics e-print arXiv:0903.4506v1.
8. Data from NSF WebCASPAR, 〈〉.
9. Lange S. The role of masters degree transitions on Ph.D. attainment in STEM disciplines for students of color. 2006, Ph.D. thesis, University of Washington.
10. Stassun K.G. Enhancing diversity in astronomy: Minority-Serving institutions and REU programs: Strategies and recommended actions. Bull. Am. Astron. Soc. 2003, 34:1448-1452. AASBAR, 0002-7537.
11. See 〈〉.
12. Ph.D. completion and attrition: Analysis of baseline demographic data from the Ph.D. completion project. 2008, Council of Graduate Schools, 〈〉.
13. An article about the first Fisk-Vanderbilt Bridge Program Ph.D. recipient is available at 〈〉.
14. 2008, The biology track was added in.
15. Data source: American Institute of Physics, 〈〉.
16. See 〈〉.
17. Stassun K.G. Burger A. Lange S.E. The Fisk-Vanderbilt Masters-to-Ph.D. Bridge Program: A model for broadening participation of underrepresented groups in the physical sciences through effective partnerships with minority-serving institutions. J. Geosci. Educ. 2010, 58(3):135-144. ZZZZZZ, 1089-9995.
18. Each 90-minute seminar is divided into a formal presentation by a faculty leader followed by a social time for fellowship and informal mentoring. Topics covered in the formal presentations include time management, organization, and prioritization; setting and meeting goals; developing a network of mentors; milestones on the road to the Ph.D.; as well as other topics led by occasional guest speakers who are prominent scholars of color. In addition, postdoctoral researchers associated with the Bridge Program lead a reading group based on the book The Art of Being a Scientist (see Ref. 19).
19. Sneider R. Larner K. The Art of Being a Scientist: A Guide for Graduate Students and Their Mentors 2009, and (Cambridge U. P., New York, ).
20. Available at 〈〉.
21. See 〈〉.
22. See supplementary material EPAPS Document No. E-AJPIAS-79-004103 for Appendices A and B. This document can be reached via a direct link in the online article's HTML reference section or via the EPAPS homepage (http://www.aip.org/pubservs/epaps.html).