History of STEM in the USA

What Is the Relationship between Higher Education and Neoliberalism in the United States?

This paper describes a summit on Community Colleges in the Evolving STEM Education Landscape organized by a committee of the National Research Council (NRC) and the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and held at the Carnegie Institution for Science on December 15, 2011. This summit followed a similar event organized by Dr. Jill Biden, spouse of the Vice President, and held at the White House in October 2010, which sought to bring national attention to the changing missions and purposes of community colleges in contemporary American society.1 The NRC/NAE event built on the White House summit, while focusing on the changing roles of community colleges in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. An in-depth summary of the summit was prepared by the NRC and NAE for publication in late Spring 2012 by the National Academies Press (NRC and National Academy of Engineering, 2012 ). This paper provides a synopsis of that report, which is available at www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13399, and emphasizes how we can use the report to improve STEM education for our students, but also how much progress still needs to be made to realize this ideal.

Engaging voices

Obtaining higher education in the United States of America is a key catalyst for social mobility of the population, public confidence, which provides many individual advantages in modern society. In 2023-2024, graduates of higher education institutions in the United States will make up a larger share of employees in both public and private enterprises, compared to those with a lower level of education. The economic and social development of Ukraine, as a world leader, requires investment in education. In this regard, it is relevant to study the implementation of STEM education in higher education institutions in the United States of America, since over the past three decades the importance of STEM education for the country's economic competitiveness has been recognized by the United States Government as a level of official resolutions, laws and regulations, as an area that supports the development of ideas and solutions necessary to solve the country's global problems. The article examines the impact of the decentralization of the US higher education sector on the strategy, oversight, and accreditation of higher education institutions in the United States. The presence of independent and autonomous accreditation agencies in the US that can assess the performance of US higher education institutions is analyzed. The procedure for assessing the performance of US higher education institutions, which is implemented through funding for needs-based research, innovative programs, and individual federal loans, is analyzed, and covers such university areas as student education, management, academic programs, faculty and staff qualifications, and finance. The specifics of the distribution of STEM degrees in the field of bachelor’s and master’s degrees in private and public institutions are considered. The concept of «conceptualizing culture» in undergraduate STEM education is investigated. The influence of curators and teachers of STEM disciplines on the ability of students to succeed in STEM education is investigated. It has been determined that STEM education in the United States is characterized by support from the Federal Government and is the national educational framework of the United States, which ensures the competitiveness of the state in the field of future employment.

Long-term Impacts of STEM Enrichment Programs on Under-represented Minority Students

Social mobility is considered as an important indicator of the economic development of a country. However, it varies widely across geographical regions and social groups in developing countries like Bangladesh. This paper intends to evaluate the intergenerational mobility in Bangladesh across generations. This paper considers a nationally representative sample survey of 8,403 respondents (rural: 5,436 and urban: 2,967). The male and female respondents aged 23 years and above were included in the sample. The education attainment of a son or daughter as compared to their father's education level was considered as the measure of intergenerational mobility. Transition probability matrix and different social mobility indices were used to find out the intergenerational education mobility in Bangladesh. The findings reveal that approximately three-fourth (74.5%) of the respondents attained formal education, while more than half (58.3%) of the respondents' father was illiterate. The educational status of the respondents and their father who lived in urban areas was relatively better than who lived in rural areas. It is also observed that 91.2% and 81.6% of the intergenerational class movement was upward among sons and daughters respectively. The probability of a higher educated father will have a higher educated child is higher in urban areas than in rural areas of Bangladesh. The intergenerational mobility is higher in the primary, secondary, and higher secondary educational levels, though the illiterate and higher education levels are the least mobile classes. In addition, the limiting probabilities reveal that the chance of sending sons to schools by an illiterate father is less as compared to their daughters. Such difference is more obvious in the urban areas, i.e., it is highly likely that sons of the illiterate father are also illiterate. Bangladesh has been progressing remarkably in recent years. To keep the pace of the ongoing economic development in the country, it is necessary to give more attention to the illiterate people especially the girls who live in rural areas. The authors anticipate that the findings will be helpful for the policymakers as the relationship between inequality and intergenerational mobility is vital for several aspects of the economic development of a country.

IntroductionSocial mobility is considered as an important indicator of the economic development of a country. However, it varies widely across geographical regions and social groups in developing countries like Bangladesh. This paper intends to evaluate the intergenerational mobility in Bangladesh across generations.Methods and materialsThis paper considers a nationally representative sample survey of 8,403 respondents (rural: 5,436 and urban: 2,967). The male and female respondents aged 23 years and above were included in the sample. The education attainment of a son or daughter as compared to their father’s education level was considered as the measure of intergenerational mobility. Transition probability matrix and different social mobility indices were used to find out the intergenerational education mobility in Bangladesh.ResultsThe findings reveal that approximately three-fourth (74.5%) of the respondents attained formal education, while more than half (58.3%) of the respondents’ father was illiterate. The educational status of the respondents and their father who lived in urban areas was relatively better than who lived in rural areas. It is also observed that 91.2% and 81.6% of the intergenerational class movement was upward among sons and daughters respectively. The probability of a higher educated father will have a higher educated child is higher in urban areas than in rural areas of Bangladesh. The intergenerational mobility is higher in the primary, secondary, and higher secondary educational levels, though the illiterate and higher education levels are the least mobile classes. In addition, the limiting probabilities reveal that the chance of sending sons to schools by an illiterate father is less as compared to their daughters. Such difference is more obvious in the urban areas, i.e., it is highly likely that sons of the illiterate father are also illiterate.ConclusionBangladesh has been progressing remarkably in recent years. To keep the pace of the ongoing economic development in the country, it is necessary to give more attention to the illiterate people especially the girls who live in rural areas. The authors anticipate that the findings will be helpful for the policymakers as the relationship between inequality and intergenerational mobility is vital for several aspects of the economic development of a country.

Massification, globalization, and the increasing demand for talented workers in STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) fields trouble higher education. The growth of a knowledge economy and changing demand for skills attained at universities are remarkable in STEM fields (Yamada in Redefining Asia Pacific Higher Education in Contexts of Globalization: Private Markets and the Public Good. International and Development Education. Palgrave Pivot, New York, pp. 117–128, 2015). In order to cultivate graduates to lead Japanese industry in collaboration, innovation, and entrepreneurship, policy suggests that technical fields must teach knowledge in the humanities and social sciences. Interdisciplinary studies are valued for the development of critical thinking, a broader perspective from other fields of study, and the ability to translate ways of thought between different fields. This paper shows the direction of interdisciplinary collaboration in US higher education and then analyzes similar developments in Japanese higher education, such as the Empowerment Informatics Ph.D. Program (EMP Program) at the University of Tsukuba. All institutions merge STEM majors with of artists, humanists, and social scientists in collaborative classwork, research and development, and field work.

This chapter uses the Canadian experience to reflect on issues related to four aspects of Higher Vocational Education (HIVE): defining HIVE; varieties of HIVE; scale of HIVE; and the impact of HIVE particularly with respect to equity. Although the focus of this chapter is on Canada, the discussion is placed in a comparative context in order to better illuminate the issues addressed.Higher Level Vocational Education is generally thought of as vocational education at the level of higher education. This conception of HIVE raises questions as to who determines whether a specific form of vocational education is at the higher education level. In some cases, there is formal recognition by the state, an example being college-based bachelor’s degrees accredited by government-established agencies in Canada. However, problems arise when determination that vocational education programs are at the level of higher education is effectively left to universities, as there may be a conflict between the properties deemed important by universities and those considered essential to achieving the goals of vocational educationA substantial proportion of HIVE provided by Canadian colleges is in the form of two-year programs that normally require completion of secondary school for admission. Canada also has some unique types of HIVE programs: three-year diploma programs and one-year graduate programs designed for graduates of university bachelor programs and of two- and three-year college diploma programs. In contrast, in some countries two-year college-based HIVE programs have disappeared, while HIVE is offered mainly in the form of bachelor’s degree programs. These examples give rise to questions about the sources and implications of differences in the mix of HIVE activities in different jurisdictions.There are substantial international differences in the scale of different forms of HIVE. The proportion of adults who have completed a two- or three-year vocational program in a college in Canada is the highest of any OECD member country and more than double the rate of any of the other countries covered in this book. The scale of HIVE can affect opportunities for graduates in conflicting ways. As with other types of qualifications, an increase in supply can reduce the labour market value of a credential. On the other hand, with a newer or less well-known type of labour market credential, an increase in the supply of workers with the credential can be important in gaining recognition and acceptance of the credential, which can enhance opportunities for those with the credential. The scale of vocationally oriented bachelor’s degrees awarded by Canadian colleges may not yet be sufficient to achieve labour market recognition of what graduates of these programs bring to the workplace.As in most other countries, in Canada learners with characteristics such as lower income, minority group membership, single-parenthood, rural residence, and disabilities are over-represented in college HIVE programs relative to universities. And as in many other countries, HIVE has been criticized in Canada for failing to foster the same extent of social mobility and access to higher income and social status as universities, and thus failing to alleviate social inequality. This chapter will explore this question at a more disaggregated level by looking at variation by type of HIVE and field of study, and trends over time as HIVE has evolved. In Canada, as in the United States, there is considerable overlap in the earnings of college and university graduates, and graduates of two-year college programs in some fields earn more than university graduates in other fields earnings.Another way of looking at the outcomes of HIVE is to compare the employment and earnings opportunities of HIVE graduates with those of individuals who enter the workforce directly after secondary school without additional education. The government of Canada has indicated that a high proportion of new job openings will require college-based HIVE and that HIVE provides essential skills for the Canadian workforce. Less is known about how the aggregate demand for HIVE-prepared workers translates into career advancement and social mobility opportunities for HIVE graduates.

. The aim of the research is to investigate a current state of the US higher education and to show obstacles in a way of its innovative perfection; to reveal specificity of the US state policy concerning the higher school; to define factors that influence the effectiveness of the American research universities during the last decades. Methods . The author applies for methods of the retrospective and logic analysis while considering social and economic conditions and features of functioning of the American higher educational institutions during the latter half of 20th – the early 21st centuries. Conclusions on a condition and prospects of development of the US higher education are made on the basis of the review and the author’s interpretation of original documentary sources tenor and the official statistical data. Results . The author specifies the groups of factors that provide functioning efficiency of leading research universities of the USA. The research findings demonstrate that the diversification of funding sources, the concentration of talents in professorial, scientific, student communities, the guarantee of the academic mobility, and the favorable management structure of the US universities allow to lower dependence on economic instability, to provide development dynamism and adequately react to present calls. The characteristic of the system developed in the present period of the US higher education is given; the directions of its innovative development in modern conditions are defined. Scientific novelty . The author singles out and proves the problems of the US higher school caused by an economic crisis in the early 21st century and essentially affected the state strategy in educational management sphere and the corporate policy of high schools, taking into consideration the inescapable fact that features of the US higher education system are caused by aspiration of this state to hold the leading positions in the world community. The contradictions of innovative development of higher education of the USA are revealed. The author notes that universities raise a student fee focusing on well-off students in an effort to stabilize its financial position forces as it negatively affects the formation of an intellectual potential of the country. On the one hand, accessibility (massification) of higher education due to distant technologies provides international popularity to the US universities; on the other hand, it lowers the education quality. Practical significance . Implementation of the research outcomes while studying the positive foreign experience and judgements of the American colleagues in strategy of management adoption and the higher school organisation will help the Russian ones to find own way of rational and effective modernization of vocational training.

Reviewed by: Acting in the Academy: The History of Professional Actor Training in US Higher Education by Peter Zazzali Chase Bringardner Acting in the Academy: The History of Professional Actor Training in US Higher Education. By Peter Zazzali. New York: Routledge, 2016; pp. 236. In Acting in the Academy: The History of Professional Actor Training in US Higher Education, Peter Zazzali offers a critical contribution to ongoing discourse on the role, structure, and purpose of acting training programs located within US academic institutions. Relying upon an extensive archive of materials, he traces the rise and significance of the League of Professional Theatre Training Programs, and uses this rich historical context to argue for curricular change. Specifically, Zazzali calls on contemporary acting programs to embrace a different, more entrepreneurial model that empowers actors within the “given circumstances” of this particular contemporary moment. Zazzali’s book is both a groundbreaking historical work and a future-looking treatise that will be an invaluable resource for professors and acting students alike as they seek to determine the trajectories of acting training for the next fifty years. As the author states in his introduction, this book is primarily a history of the “‘professional’ training of actors in US higher education,” an underrepresented chapter in the larger history of acting technique in the United States (5). Throughout the work Zazzali strengthens his argument by consistently reminding his readers of the parameters of his study. He asserts the league’s legacy as the most important to the development of acting technique in the country since the Group Theatre of the 1930s. He thus places the league and its professional training programs within the larger narrative both of acting training in higher education and the development of US acting technique in general. Zazzali bookends the core of his historical analysis with more polemic chapters. His opening chapter on the challenges facing actor training today establishes the stakes for his examination, while his concluding chapter suggests a pathway forward for acting programs to consider for the future. While he is careful to note that his work does not “substantially address important issues regarding race, gender, age, social class, disabilities, and sexual identity relative to American acting training” (5), he does couch his assessment of contemporary actor training and call for change within some economic and social systems. For example, he discusses the impact of celebrity on standards or measures of actor success. Zazzali skillfully positions these concerns as a result of a continued reliance upon a league-training approach that fails to take into account the realities or “given circumstances” of the contemporary performance landscape. These concerns lead him ultimately to argue for an emphasis on entrepreneurship as a way of cultivating skills in young actors to empower them to create their own opportunities, defy the celebrity system, and redefine the very measures of a successful career. To arrive at these conclusions, Zazzali investigates US actor training from various angles. In the second chapter he examines the creation of the league out of the seeds of the Stanislavski system. The league focused on a psychophysical approach that combined the psychological approaches of Stanislavski with the physical training found in Barba or Growtowski. The newly formed league schools of the early 1970s became crucibles for the teaching of these techniques and the creation of a generation of actors prepared for work in regional theatres. Yet, as Zazzali importantly reminds us, this relationship between the league and regional theatres was often not simpatico. To illustrate this uneasy relationship, he uses chapter 3 to place the league within the sociohistorical context of the 1960s in order to provide the groundwork for the fraught relationship between professional training programs and the US university system. Specifically, he details specific moments, such as conferences, speeches, and grants awarded, to show the incremental steps that led to the standards and practices established for these emerging programs. After establishing that the newly formed league (in 1971) created eleven programs in its first year as an incorporated body, Zazzali transitions in chapter 4 to specific case studies of three disparate representative models of the league: Carnegie Mellon, Julliard, and American Conservatory Theater. These case studies represent an appropriate...

IntroductionHistorically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) play a critical role in the educational experiences of African Americans. Of the top 20 leading producers of African American bachelor's degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, all but three are HBCUs (Borden & Brown 2004). In 2010, HBCUs were the source of 17.6% of all bachelor's degrees to African Americans but 19.2% of the bachelor's degrees to African Americans in STEM fields. HBCUs are also a relatively more important source of STEM degrees for African American women than African American men. According to the National Science Foundation (NSF, 2013), 15.8% of all science and engineering bachelor's degrees awarded to African American women in 2010 were from HBCUs, compared to only 14.5% of bachelor degrees in STEM fields awarded to African American men. Coupled with these findings is the large number of African American women enrolled in our nation's community colleges. According to NSF (2013), there has been almost a 50% increase of African American females at community colleges. This insinuates that a large portion of African American female STEM talent will be entering the HBCU environment through the community college environment. For the purpose of this study Black and African American will be used interchangeably throughout.Given the aforementioned statistics on the underrepresentation of African American females in math- and science-related areas, and the role of community colleges and HBCUs in the success of African American females, it is surprising that the literature is bleak regarding the representation of African American female community college transfer students who are enrolled at HBCUs and their overall experiences as a transfer student in STEM. In fact, Hawkins (2013) asserted that according to the Association of American Community Colleges and the Center for the Study of Community Colleges data on the number of community college students who transfer to HBCUs aren't tracked (para. 13). With a large representation of African American students entering four-year HBCUs through the community college environment, examining and exploring the experiences of this population will assist in highlighting factors that positively impact their successful transfer from the community college into the four-year HBCU environment. This study draws attention to a very unique population-African American female community college transfer students in STEM disciplines at a four-year HBCU.The literature is explicit regarding the need to increase the representation of students of color in STEM in the United States. This urgency emerges from the current shortage of competent individuals in math- and science-related fields. The projection that minorities will represent about half of the resident United States population by 2050 (Ortman & Guameri, 2009) makes this population a viable option for fulfilling many of the jobs in the STEM workforce. Even with this urgency, completion rates for African-American, Hispanic, Native American and low-income students are lower than the overall numbers in STEM-related areas (Bailey & Alfonso, 2005, p. 5). This indicates that we are losing a very talented population of students of color at every educational level and in many STEM content areas. Additionally, the National Science Foundation revealed that female and minority students are behind compared to their male and race majority counterparts in achieving degrees in the STEM areas (NSF, 2013). More specifically, female participation in engineering and computer science remains below 30% and since 2000, the representation of underrepresented minorities has remained flat in the physical sciences and has dropped in mathematics (NSF, 2013).Using the Triple Quandary Theory (Boykin & Toms,1985) and its interplay among three tenets: (a) mainstream experience, (b) Black cultural socialization and (c) the minority socialization experience; the purpose of this study is to explore the experiences of seven African American community college female transfer students who are currently enrolled at an HBCU in a STEM bachelor's degree program. …

Across the USA, there is a disproportionally lower number of African-American women who choose to pursue degrees and careers in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) disciplines. Spelman College, a historically Black college and a global leader in the education of women of African descent, has made strategic and focused efforts to increase the international experiences of all students; however, there are specific challenges related to STEM students. To meet these challenges, the “Enhancing Global Research and Education in STEM” program (G-STEM) was created to provide African-American STEM students with formally mentored international research experiences so that they complete their undergraduate STEM major with transformative worldviews. The G-STEM program has created 15 international partnerships, and offers STEM research placements across the globe. A total of 104 students have participated in this program; and 98% of these students have graduated, or are set to graduate. Of those that have graduated, 42% are currently enrolled in STEM graduate programs (MS or PhD) or health-career graduate programs (medicine, nursing, dentistry). These numbers indicate that the exposure to structured international research experiences may significantly influence a student’s likelihood of graduation and further pursuit of a career in the STEM disciplines. This chapter reviews the development of the G-STEM program, highlighting successful international research partnership typologies, recruitment and retention practices of underrepresented students, and the development of an integrated mentoring program. Student experiences and outcomes are presented, followed by a discussion of the barriers to STEM student participation in international research experiences.

Chinese international students account for a significant portion of the US higher education system. This impact is amplified by the fact that many of these students are paying higher out-of-state tuition fees, that many universities rely on to meet their pecuniary needs. This past year has seen significant changes in the area of China-US relations which could jeopardize the prior model used by US universities. This article examines four of the current key political issues affecting the China-US relationship and measures the extent Chinese students are influenced by these factors when deciding to pursue higher education in the US. The four factors analyzed are the US Covid-19 situation, the US-China trade war, the social upheaval associated with the Black Lives Matter movement, and the most recent political tensions between the US and China. Key findings indicate that only about half as many students are willing to consider studying in the US and that Covid-19 seems to be the most influential factor in most students’ reasoning.

Black women are disproportionately impacted by chronic illness and are significantly more likely to experience severe morbidity and mortality as a consequence of pregnancy and childbirth.1, 2 As seen in a myriad of stories on maternal death and "near misses", Black women often experience maltreatment in clinical settings.3-5 With rising national media and scientific attention to the depth of racial inequities, Black maternal health has emerged as a priority for government and private funders.6-9 Providing financial support for maternal health research and programming is necessary, but insufficient, in eliminating disparate outcomes. There must be intentional, sustainable investments in the people best able to understand: Black women. Absent from the current landscape is a robust, well-supported cadre of Black maternal health scholar-activists who combine scientific and policy knowledge with the socio-cultural expertise that accompanies lived experience. Federal research institutes and private sector funders in the United States have acknowledged preventable inequities and have dedicated resources to identify causes, mechanisms of influence, and solutions for reducing disparate outcomes.7, 8 However, the conceptualization, design, and conduct of these studies (as well as funding decisions to support them) occur primarily among White researchers, which plausibly limits reductions in inequities.10 Specific investments in the educational trajectory of Black women are urgent and necessary to further enhance the quality, diversity, and impact of the maternal child health (MCH) field. The Public Health and MCH workforce needs to be further diversified with Black women scholar-activists because they are also culturally representative of the very populations at the greatest risk to experience maternal and infant health disparities. For example, Black women are 3.2 times more likely to die from pregnancy-related deaths compared to their White counterparts, and these disparities increase with age to 4–5 times more likely.11 Simultaneously, research demonstrates that when Black newborns are cared for by Black physicians, their mortality rate as compared to White infants is cut in half.12 By increasing the MCH workforce to include Black women scholar-activists and health care providers, the likelihood for improvement in health inequities increases. The goal of this commentary is to provide: (1) a brief overview of challenges Black women encounter on the path to and within science careers, (2) examples of successful approaches used to overcome these challenges, and (3) an urgent call to action for the field to commit to the training and development of Black women scholars in public and maternal health with the goal of eliminating maternal health inequities. In a similar manner to how structural racism and sexism produce adverse outcomes in labor and delivery,13-15 these same mechanisms also produce unfavorable outcomes for Black women in academia. At every level of the professional path to a career in scientific research, Black women consistently face bias: unwarranted and seemingly unavoidable experiences that make it more challenging for them to enroll in and graduate from school. For example, Black women describe experiencing isolation, invisibility, exclusion, pressure to continuously prove themselves worthy, a lack of mentorship, and a lack of sponsorship throughout scholarship.16 In addition, after graduation, they are often met with structural, interpersonal, and intrapersonal challenges in obtaining, managing, and remaining in research-focused academic and other scientific positions.17 Obstacles include exclusion from collaborative opportunities, questioning of credentials and expertise by students and colleagues, criticism of their chosen outlets for publication, extra service requests and additional mentoring burden.18 Hindering the progression of Black women into high level leadership positions also presents barriers to the mentorship of burgeoning Black female scholars, thus continuing this pernicious cycle. Many training programs have been used to improve graduation and retention rates among Black students in higher education. These programs are of particular importance due to the evidence that Black students' experiences on college campuses have a significant impact on their academic longevity.19 For Black college students, factors such as the level of faculty support, availability of research-based programming, and feelings of institutional connectedness and belonging have dramatic effects on their personal and academic development and matriculation.19 The Meyerhoff Scholars Program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County is an example of a training program that has successfully increased the numbers of Black undergraduate college students who succeed in science, mathematics, and engineering.20 Meyerhoff students were more than 10 times as likely than the historical African American sample to attend graduate school in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, and almost two times as likely to attend medical school.20 Raising Achievement in Mathematics and Science scholar and similar programs at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are used to improve retention and graduation rates among minority students specifically in the STEM fields.21 A study at Winston-Salem State University found that prior to the implementation of these training programs, graduation rates for full-time students were 17.8% in 2008 and for STEM majors it was 9.3%.21 With the programs in place, graduation rates increased dramatically. The Raising Achievement in Mathematics and Science scholar program participants had a 98.8% graduation rate over 4 years and 100% of the 2009 scholar cohort graduated in STEM and were enrolled in either MS/PhD graduate programs or professional schools.21 Spelman College also employs several programs to orient and support Black women students in STEM careers. Spelman has the Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement training program, which supports the career pursuits of women and underrepresented minorities interested in biomedical research.22 In addition, between 2015 and 2019, Spelman College was ranked by the National Science Foundation as the number 1 institution of origin for Black PhDs in STEM disciplines.23 These types of programs and the contributions of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU's) to the Black female scientific workforce emphasizes their importance and necessity in contributing toward the development and advancement of Black women in research and advocacy. The W. Montague Cobb/National Medical Association Health Institute (also known as The Cobb Institute) is an organization that focuses on improving health inequities and addressing structural racism through research, education, and mentorship.24 The Cobb Scholars Program was launched in 2016 for senior residents, fellows, postdoctoral scientists, or early-stage investigators that come from underrepresented groups and are interested in biomedical and behavioral research.24 The scholars receive mentorship in leadership and research from interdisciplinary senior fellows which provides for collaboration and coaching across sectors to enrich their experience. Predominately White institutions can also help advance this goal. For example, the Pathways for Students into Health Professions program, housed within the University of California, Los Angeles campus, focuses on supporting underrepresented minority undergraduate students in MCH professions through the provisions of faculty mentorship, paid internships, and learning opportunities through various seminars.25 Although the program is not specifically built for Black students, it does prioritize students coming from non-dominant racial and ethnic groups, and research has found that students who completed the program were significantly more likely to report an interest in MCH topics and careers when compared to pre-enrollment.25 Many mentorship and training programs are open to those coming from other non-dominant racial and ethnic groups, as well as multiple gender identities.26 However, Black women often face different and distinct challenges as compared to their Black male counterparts or women of other racial backgrounds.27 Thus, there is a critical need to focus on the unique training and mentorship needs of Black women in academia. To bolster impacts within the MCH field, it would be useful to develop and implement programs to support Black women in their matriculation in public health, social sciences, and health care graduate programs with a focus on MCH research. There are a few graduate programs designed to support Black women in health care and health sciences that can be adapted for scholar-activists. For example, the Association of Black Women Physicians offers the Sister-to-Sister Mentoring Program that provides mentorship to Black women physicians, residents, and medical students.28 The program, Black Girl White Coat, is a social media mentorship initiative that hopes to provide further representation for groups that have been historically marginalized and oppressed.29 In addition, the ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Project of Jackson State University is a STEM mentorship program designed to support and empower Black women scholar-activists as well as provide a mentorship pipeline for early career scientists.30 Each of these programs aim to cultivate community and camaraderie among women who frequently, by nature of their racial and gender identity, are isolated in academic and professional settings. By adapting these mentorship programs to accommodate the needs of aspiring Black maternal health scholars, we can expand the support of early career professionals beyond undergraduate trainings. The profound impact of intentional investment in the form of mentorship, academic skill building, and providing opportunities for advocacy in the next generation of leaders cannot be overstated. This common thread among the following programs remain at the crux of the case for increased financial and programming support dedicated to the academic and career development of Black maternal health scholars. HBCU's must be central in the creation of a pipeline of leaders and scholars from historically underrepresented communities trained to work toward health equity in maternal health. For the past few years, Health Resources Services Administration through the Maternal and Child Health Bureau has formed an Alliance with 10 HBCU's to enhance the resources and expertise of faculty and students in HBCU's to address health inequities in MCH populations.31 The Alliance meets monthly to discuss strategies to strengthen research, outreach, advocacy, and services and has recently presented recommendations to the Maternal and Child Health Bureau. The Charles Drew University's Black Maternal Health Center of Excellence is one of the promising new programs underway that has been designed to address the persisting birthing disparities that disproportionately impact Black birthing people in Los Angeles County and the local Charles Drew community.32 The initiative names racism as a root cause to the disproportionately higher rates of infant and maternal death for Black birthing people countywide.33 In response to growing maternal morbidity and mortality rates in the state of Georgia, The Morehouse School of Medicine launched the Center for Maternal Health Equity in 2019.34 Their approach to tackling maternal health inequities is multifaceted; the Center utilizes research, workforce training, community engagement, and policy advocacy to improve reproductive justice.34 There is a paucity of evaluated programs tailored to meet the needs of Black women scholar-activists. However, many of the programs that currently exist offer foundations and frameworks that can be augmented to fit the needs of Black women and students within the MCH fields. The Diversity Scholars Leadership Program at the Boston University School of Public Health Center of Excellence in MCH is designed for students from underrepresented minority communities during their public health graduate studies in MCH.35 The National Birth Equity Collaborative is a Black-led organization that serves as a hands-on training program for promising scholars in the field.36 The Collaborative recruits interns from across multiple public health disciplines with experience in research, policy, training, advocacy, and community-centered work, with a commitment to reproductive justice and advancing birth equity.37 Founded in July 2020 during the dual pandemics of racism and COVID-19, The Maternal Outcomes for Translational Health Equity Research (MOTHER) Lab at Tufts University School of Medicine was created with two main goals: (1) to train, mentor, and engage bright scholars of color and White allies; and (2) to provide a research and training space to ensure scholars are supported as they prepare to go into their respective fields to dismantle systemic racism.38 Through a keen focus on the development of research skills, advocacy, and leadership among its students, the MOTHER Lab provides a framework for the development of maternal health scholars that can serve as model for other research labs housed in schools of public health or medicine. The MOTHER Lab is a unit within the newly formed Center for Black Maternal Health and Reproductive Justice that houses faculty, staff, and students with a dedicated interest in addressing maternal health inequities. This center would contribute to immense progress in filling current gaps for mentorship, research, and sustainable change in this field.39 Research has shown that mentorship for students of color in White spaces are especially beneficial and can become a positive predictor component to their academic and professional futures; this center would provide training, research, and mentorship opportunities for scholars and providers in the field of Black maternal health equity.40, 41 Additionally, the Center for Black Maternal Health and Reproductive Justice and the MOTHER Lab scholarly program for maternal health students are founded and run by Black female scholars with lived experience, thus representing a unique opportunity to engage and train the next generation of leaders. Finally, policy agendas such as the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act of 2021 (suite of 12 bills proposed in Congress), provide new and exciting ways to support the development of scholar-activists at the local, national, and state level that are dedicated to eliminating maternal mortality and morbidity in Black women.42 These 12 bills address current Black maternal health disparities through numerous distinct methods, but prominently include expanded funding for research on the topic and diversifying the MCH workforce as important methods. One of these bills (Protecting Moms Who Served Act of 2021) has been signed into law, while parts of several others have been partially incorporated in the proposed Build Back Better Act (Data to Save Moms Act, Kira Johnson Act, Maternal Health Pandemic Response Act of 2020, Perinatal Workforce Act, Protecting Moms and Babies Against Climate Change Act, and the Tech to Save Moms Act).43 Unique obstacles encountered from secondary school and throughout graduate education contribute to a lack of adequate representation of Black women in public health. This ultimately leads to a lack of lived experience and scholarship of scholars from communities most affected by the Black maternal health crisis. Modeling the success of other heavily invested pipeline mentorship and training programs, increased support of burgeoning Black maternal health scholar-activists may help mitigate this issue. Furthermore, existing policies and proposed legislation to diversify the public health workforce create the platform needed to build out the investment in Black women scholars who can lead the movement for maternal health equity. The authors have no funding to report.