In 2013, the Foundation made grants to Cornel University, Georgia Institute of Technology, and The Pennsylvania State University for the establishment and operation of three University Centers for Exemplary Mentoring (UCEMs). Part of the Foundation’s Minority Ph.D. program, UCEMs are coordinated, campus-wide initiatives aimed at promoting the success of STEM graduate students from traditionally underrepresented groups. UCEMs provide minority graduate students with a host of different benefits, including $40,000 in direct fellowship support for selected students, peer and faculty mentoring, seminars on various aspects of graduate life, a variety of professional development activities, and programs aimed at recruiting and retaining talented minority graduate students. Funds from this grant provide three years of continued operational support for the UCEMs at Cornell, Georgia Tech, and Penn State. Grant funds are administered and dispersed by the Foundation’s agent, the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (NACME). Additional funds from this grant will be used by NACME for evaluation and analysis of UCEM progress and to facilitate travel and information-gathering.

Since the Sloan Minority Ph.D. (MPHD) program began in 1995, more than 900 minority graduate students supported by the Foundation have received their Ph.D. in a STEM field. Some 450 more students are still making progress toward their degree. Funds from this grant to the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) support the establishment of a professional development network for alumni of the Sloan Minority Ph.D. program, with a particular emphasis on those alumni who have or will continue their scholarly work in positions as college or university faculty. Over the next three years, the SSRC will spearhead the creation of the Sloan Scholar Mentor Network, and will conduct a variety of activities to grow and strengthen the network and to ensure it delivers value to its members. These include studying alumni to understand their evolving needs as researchers and faculty members, and as underrepresented minorities in STEM; building a robust and active mentoring network; working to build a common identity among alumni; offering leadership training and support to help Sloan alumni become established as leaders in their fields and workplaces, and to prepare them to become change agents within their home institutions; and establishing evaluation procedures that will enable the network to increasingly deliver value to its members. Planned activities involve “meet and greet” events at universities and disciplinary meetings, a biennial conference for alumni, a recent Ph.D. retreat for postdoctoral fellows and early-career faculty, the creation of an up-to-date directory, and a series of professional development webinars.