COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Engineering and computer science classrooms are full of eager students ready to learn.

Today more and more of these seats are being filled by underrepresented minorities, thanks in part to the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP), a National Science Foundation-funded program in The Texas A&M University System.

In 1990, fewer than 4,000 science, engineering and math degrees were awarded to minority students in the United States. By 1998, that number had increased to more than 20,000. This increase is a result of the efforts of LSAMP. Texas A&M University, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and Prairie View A&M University, are among 470 institutions that participate in LSAMP programs.

Funded by NSF, LSAMP was established in 1990 and the A&M System has been active with it from the beginning. The A&M System's program was one of the first six LSAMP programs in the nation.

The A&M System uses LSAMP as a way to help minority students succeed in science, technology, engineering and math fields at the baccalaureate and graduate levels. It focuses on personal and leadership development, but most importantly, focuses on developing participants' academics.

The program does this by giving students the opportunity to work one-on-one with faculty and graduate students, do hands-on work in the laboratory, and provide exposure to opportunities with top companies.

The A&M System's core program is the Undergraduate Research Program (UGR). There are 25 participants involved this fall at Texas A&M. With UGR, the students are placed in a setting with a faculty mentor so they are able to start working with research early on in their academic career. The program provides these research opportunities during the academic year, whereas many other programs in the nation only offer them in the summer.

Shannon Henderson, associate director of LSAMP at Texas A&M, said that it allows students a chance to study and be able to "put [their] hands in it as well." She said she believes that although students get a chance to learn in the classroom the application of that learning is often only seen at a distance.

"LSAMP is an opportunity to bring the classroom to life," Henderson said.

Henderson herself is a product of LSAMP. Beginning her undergraduate degree at Texas A&M in 1994, she started out with LSAMP. With its help, she is now completing her Ph.D. in interdisciplinary engineering.

LSAMP also allows undergraduates to conduct their own research, something students usually don¿t get to do until graduate school. Students get to showcase their work and learn from others at an annual LSAMP Mini-Symposium, a research symposium that includes seminars for UGR students. It also gives students in the Bridge to the Doctorate program (BTD), a supplemental program of LSAMP for graduate students, an opportunity to showcase their research. The next symposium is set for February 2008 in Houston.

Maxine Jones earned her Ph.D. in chemical engineering at Texas A&M as a student in the LSAMP BTD. She was on a fast-track doctoral program that helped her get her Ph.D. without having to get her master's degree.

"The LSAMP program has allowed me to show off my research and to network with other scientists and researchers by funding my travel and registration expenses for two national conferences within the last academic year," Jones said.

LSAMP gives students opportunities to meet faculty and researchers and allows them to network with other students. Students often wind up in classes with other LSAMP students, and Jones said she gained a lot from other students in the program who could identify with the day-to-day struggles of graduate school.

"It was encouraging to see other people like myself succeeding in grad school," she said.

For more information, contact

Source: Shannon Henderson
shannon@tamu.edu

Reporter: Lauren E. Kern
laurenkern@tees.tamus.edu

News Story 1598, October 31, 2007

Direct page link:
http://engineeringnews.tamu.edu/news/1598

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