Preparing minority scientists and engineers (220.1)

Abstract

African Americans comprise about 14 percent of college students in the U.S. but earn only ~ 7 percent of bachelors degrees and ~3 percent of doctoral degrees in STEM fields. We have developed a system for diversifying our undergraduate and graduate STEM programs that focuses on high expectations and achievement. More than 1200 students have participated in the undergraduate Meyerhoff Scholars Program since its inception in 1988. More than 90% of the participants who graduated received STEM degrees, with > 40% matriculating to top PhD or MD‐PhD programs, 20% to STEM Masters programs, and 20% entered professional (mainly MD) programs. The talent pool is large: we typically receive more than 2,200 nominations and more than 500 applications annually (about half URM students), mainly from Maryland and the Mid‐Atlantic area. URM participation in STEM PhD programs has also increased dramatically over the past 15 years (from 3% to 17%), and URM PhD production has increased from 3 graduates in the 10 years preceding our program to more than 50 graduates over the past 10 years. The program currently includes 80 URM doctoral students, and the retention rate over the past 8 years is greater than 90%. More than 40 former UMBC undergraduate and graduate students now hold academic faculty positions in the U.S. The program components of the undergraduate and graduate programs should be replicable at other interested academic institutions.