The Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program is an alliance-based program. The program's theory is based on the Tinto model for student retention. The overall goal of the program is to assist universities and colleges in diversifying the nation's science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workforce by increasing the number of STEM baccalaureate and graduate degrees awarded to populations historically underrepresented in these disciplines: African Americans, Hispanic Americans, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Native Pacific Islanders.
The LSAMP program takes a comprehensive approach to student development and retention. Particular emphasis is placed on transforming undergraduate STEM education through innovative, evidence-based recruitment and retention strategies, and relevant educational experiences in support of racial and ethnic groups historically underrepresented in STEM disciplines.
The LSAMP program also supports knowledge generation, knowledge utilization, program impact and dissemination type activities. The program seeks new learning and immediate diffusion of scholarly research into the field. Under this program, funding for STEM educational and broadening participation research activities could include research to develop new models in STEM engagement, recruitment and retention practices for all critical pathways to STEM careers or research on interventions such as mentoring, successful learning practices and environments, STEM efficacy studies, and technology use.
Overall, the LSAMP program provides funding to alliances that implement comprehensive, evidence-based, innovative, and sustained strategies that ultimately result in the graduation of well-prepared, highly-qualified students from underrepresented minority groups who pursue graduate studies or careers in STEM.
Project types under this program include:
- Alliances. Alliances are consortia of multiple degree-granting institutions. Organizations from other sectors, including informal science organizations, may be participants. Projects focus on pre-college and undergraduate recruitment and retention activities. Types of LSAMP alliances are described as follows:
- STEM Pathways Implementation-Only Alliance projects are mainly focused on a particular STEM pathway, e.g., entry into college, first two years, or preparation for entry into graduate studies. Additionally, the project may focus on activities dedicated to diversifying a particular STEM discipline, e.g., production of mathematicians. These projects are targeted to newly-created alliances, reconstituted alliances or alliances that have received support by the program for less than 10 years. Projects are five years in duration.
- STEM Pathways and Research Alliances are projects that focus on the full STEM pathway and provide direct support for undergraduate students but also serve as a hub for the production of scholarly STEM research and evaluation to increase the knowledge-base and utilization in broadening participation. Both components must be addressed to be competitive for this project type. These are five-year projects.
- Bridge to the Baccalaureate (B2B) Alliances involve associate degree producing institutions for which the lead institution must be a community college. These are three-year projects focused on activities that provide effective educational preparation of community college students from underrepresented minority populations for successful transfer to four-year institutions in STEM degree programs.
- Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) Activity: BD projects are two-year projects eligible only to existing alliances funded 10 or more consecutive years. These projects are focused on providing post-baccalaureate fellowship support to a cohort of 12 LSAMP students for the first two years of their STEM graduate studies and providing the necessary academic and research skills that will enable them to successfully earn STEM doctoral degrees and transition into the STEM workforce.
In this solicitation, the acronym STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics that includes biological sciences (except medicine and other clinical fields); physical sciences (including physics, chemistry, astronomy, and materials science); mathematical sciences (including statistics and data science); computer and information sciences; geosciences (including earth and ocean sciences); engineering; and technology areas associated with the preceding disciplines (for example, biotechnology, chemical technology, nanotechnology, engineering technology, information technology).
The NSF LSAMP Program allows grantees to provide performance-based stipend support to undergraduate students. However, LSAMP is not a student financial aid scholarship program, and thus funds should NOT be used to award scholarships to students. The LSAMP Program does NOT make awards directly to individual students to undertake their education or research activities. Students are encouraged to contact the respective institutions to inquire about whether there are LSAMP programs (including Bridge to the Doctorate) on their campuses. All students receiving stipends/fellowships must be U.S. citizens, U.S. nationals, or permanent residents of the United States.