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No Access Submitted: 15 November 2009 Accepted: 13 December 2010 Published Online: 14 March 2011

  • The Fisk-Vanderbilt Master’s-to-Ph.D. Bridge Program: Recognizing, enlisting, and cultivating unrealized or unrecognized potential in underrepresented minority students

American Journal of Physics 79, 374 (2011); https://doi.org/10.1119/1.3546069
Keivan G. Stassun
  • Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee 37235, and Department of Physics, Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee 37208
    • Susan Sturm
  • Center for Institutional and Social Change, Columbia University Law School, New York, New York 10027
    • Kelly Holley-Bockelmann
  • Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee 37235, and Department of Physics, Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee 37208
    • Arnold Burger
  • Department of Physics, Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee 37208, and Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee 37235
    • David J. Ernst
  • Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee 37235, and Department of Physics, Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee 37208
    • Donna Webb
  • Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee 37235, and Department of Biology, Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee 37208
    • more...View Contributors
    • Keivan G. Stassun
    • Susan Sturm
    • Kelly Holley-Bockelmann
    • Arnold Burger
    • David J. Ernst
    • Donna Webb
    ABSTRACT
    The Fisk-Vanderbilt Masters-to-Ph.D. Bridge Program is a model for substantially increasing the number of underrepresented minority students earning doctoral degrees in the physical sciences. The program presently leads the nation in master’s degrees in physics for African-Americans, and is one of the top ten producers of physics master’s degrees among all U.S. citizens. The program is on pace to become the nation’s top producer of underrepresented minority Ph.Ds. in physics, astronomy, and materials science. We summarize the main features of the program, including two of its core strategies: Partnering a minority-serving institution and a major research university through collaborative research, and using the master’s degree as a pathway to the Ph.D. We discuss our methods for recognizing and selecting for unrealized potential in students during the admissions process, and for cultivating this potential to develop successful scientists and leaders.

    ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

    It is a pleasure to acknowledge the support of NSF Grant Nos. AST-0349075 and AST-0849736 (K.G.S.), AST-0847696 (K.H.-B.), and the generous support of the Vanderbilt Office of the Provost.

    REFERENCES
    Section:
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    1. 1. As defined by the National Science Foundation, underrepresented minorities are U.S. citizens and permanent residents who identify as African American, Hispanic/Latino, and/or Native American. Google Scholar
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    1. © 2011 American Association of Physics Teachers.

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