This grant to the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering funds three-year renewals for the University Centers of Exemplary Mentoring (UCEM) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); University of California, San Diego; and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. UCEMs are the primary funding model for the Sloan Foundation’s Minority Ph.D. (MPHD) program. NACME provides the administrative and fiscal support for management of all Sloan funding for UCEMs. Funds granted to each UCEM are used primarily for $40,000 scholarships for underrepresented minority doctoral students. Between the three schools, an estimated 61 students will receive such scholarships over the next three years, with a similar number of “matching” students receiving support from each UCEM’s host institution. Additional grant funds support programmatic expenses associated with the recruitment, retention, and mentoring of these students and activities to promote their successful completion of graduate study.

This award provides for the establishment of a new University Center of Exemplary Mentoring (UCEM) to be hosted at Duke University. The heart of the Foundation’s longstanding Minority PhD program, UCEMs are campus-based initiatives that provide scholarships, faculty and peer mentoring, professional development activities, and seminars and other resources aimed at promoting underrepresented minority students’ (URMs’) successful completion of graduate study. The Duke University UCEM will encompass nine science and engineering departments: chemistry, computer science, mathematics, physics, statistical science, biomedical engineering, civil and environmental engineering, electrical and computer engineering, and mechanical engineering and materials science. Over the three-year grant period, 30 minority graduate students will be supported with $40,000 awards over and above their standard graduate student support packages, half from Sloan grant funds and half from Duke matching funds. In addition, UCEM faculty and administrators will enhance and expand their minority outreach, aiming for a 20% increase in URM applications and at least a 10% increase in URM matriculants to the UCEM-participating programs over the life of the grant. Other funded activities include a coordinated set of professional development and support activities for supported students, including mentorship, seminars, and networking opportunities.

This grant funds a pilot project at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) that will leverage the insights and infrastructure of the university’s successful Meyerhoff Scholars program to identify talented minority undergraduates with an interest in pursuing advanced degrees in economics and provide them with high quality mentoring and training that will help prepare them for success in top flight graduate programs. Funded activities include: Hosting of several workshops per year to inform students early in their college years about career opportunities available to economics PhDs; Creation of faculty working groups in economics, math, and other STEM fields to examine how undergraduate course pathways influence the potential for doctoral work in economics; Provision of advising, mentoring, group support, and financial support for interested students; Offering of summer research experiences to 15 undergraduates over five years at either UMBC or at one of several other approved research universities or institutes; and The award of five stipends to UMBC graduates for two-year research assistantships in Sloan-approved economics-focused post-baccalaureate programs.

This grant provides partial support for a two-year initiative by the National Academies’ Board on Higher Education and Workforce to produce a thoroughly-researched consensus study on effective mentoring practices and the role these practices play in improving student persistence and expanding diversity and inclusion. Examining both undergraduate and graduate mentoring programs, the study aims to identify areas for future empirical research and to evaluate the impact of varied mentoring programs in STEMM (STEM+Medicine). A parallel effort will develop an online, interactive resource guide so that institutions, departments, individual faculty, and student development professionals will be able to access fully-vetted materials and resources on mentoring and customize them for their own use. Plans are to convene a study committee of 8-12 members; hold two-to-four in-person committee meetings and four-to-five virtual committee meetings; complete a critical review of the literature; organize workshops and stakeholder engagement activities; publish the committee report; develop, test, and launch the interactive online resource; and assess the project’s uptake and impact.

This grant provides 40 months of continued funding for the MSRI Undergraduate Program (MSRI-UP) at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute. The MSRI-UP program includes (1) an annual six-week summer research experience for 18 undergraduate mathematics students from underrepresented groups working in research teams of three, (2) colloquia and professional development workshops, (3) presentations at national math conferences following the summer program, (4) an introduction to a wide community of peers and mentors, and (5) long-term follow-up and mentorship. The research efforts of participants will result in technical reports posted on MSRI’s website, oral presentations at a culminating symposium, and presentations at various national conferences. Of former MSRI-UP participants with bachelor’s degrees, 82% have continued into graduate programs, including 70% in doctoral programs. Though the program was only started in 2007, 45 alumni have gone on to earn MS degrees and 20 have completed PhDs. These achievements are especially noteworthy given the program’s focus on recruiting underserved students who are not clearly headed for a graduate program in mathematics and who are not high GPA students from elite high schools.