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Centers of Excellence

NSF Regional Centers of Excellence

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Louis Stokes regional centers of excellence (LSRCEs) support the recruitment and retention of minority undergraduate and graduate students studying science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). The centers conduct broadening participation research and STEM implementation activities that lead to degree completion for minority students traditionally underrepresented in the STEM marketplace. The goal is to broadly disseminate successful practices to ensure that students underrepresented in STEM can compete in today's job market. The Louis Stokes Midwest Center of Excellence (LSMCE) was the first and only NSF-funded Center of Excellence from 2012-2018. In 2018, NSF funded an additional five Centers, each with its own mission and role. Since then, NSF has funded an additional three Centers, bringing the total number of LSRCEs to nine.

Map of Centers of Excellence

Fisk-Vanderbilt Center of Excellence

Fisk-Vanderbilt Center of Excellence logo

The Fisk-Vanderbilt Bridge Program is a nationally recognized leader in developing top talent among underrepresented groups in STEM. The program, which was founded more than 14 years ago, provides numerous support services and resources for students as they consider a career in academia or the workforce. In the first two years of the program, students work toward a master’s degree at Fisk University, with access to instructional and research opportunities at both Fisk and Vanderbilt. In addition to receiving full funding to cover tuition and fees at Fisk, students receive a monthly stipend during their master’s program. A signature feature of the program is the opportunity for students to form meaningful mentoring relationships with one another and with faculty, staff and postdocs involved with the program as they build toward their goal of earning a Ph.D.

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Florida-Caribbean Center of Excellence

Florida-Caribbean Center of Excellence logo

Louis Stokes Regional Centers of Excellence in Broadening Participation (LSRCEs) are designed to serve as regional test beds for outreach, knowledge-generating and diffusion activities or other activities that contribute to successful practices in STEM. The FL-C LSRCE's mission is to become a transformative research and training center to enhance STEM education by developing, testing and disseminating intervention that reduce the impact of social psychological barriers and to enhance students’ mindsets in the face of academic challenges. The FL-C LSRCE is co-funded by the National Science Foundation and NSF INCLUDES National Network under HRD-1826532

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Louis Stokes Midwest Regional Center of Excellence

Louis Stokes Midwest Regional Center of Excellence logo

The Louis Stokes Midwest Regional Center of Excellence (LSMRCE) for Broadening Participation in STEM is a partnership of Chicago State University (CSU) and Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). As co-founders of the pilot, Louis Stokes Midwest Center of Excellence (LSMCE), CSU and IUPUI extend the partnership to include the Ohio State University (OSU) and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) in order to deepen collaborations with 6 Midwestern LSAMPs (LouisStokes Alliances for Minority Participation) while strengthening existing partnerships with non-LSAMP institutions that are LSMCE collaborators. The LSMRCE also aims to become a regional backbone support organization for information dissemination that contributes to the development of the NSF INCLUDES National Network. The LSMRCE will develop, house, and distribute results of regional efforts in the collection, analysis, and assessment of best practices as recommended in the LSAMP model. It will also contribute to fundamental research in the science of broadening participation (BP).

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MOTE Center of Excellence

MOTE Center of Excellence logo

The Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP): Marine Science Laboratory Alliance Center of Excellence (MarSci-LACE)opens doors into marine science research, education and careers for underrepresented, minority students. LSAMP MarSci-LACE is a nexus training, resource, and supporting partner to other independent marine research institutions, degree granting institutions, LSAMP students, and science mentors and faculty, with goals to:

  • Provide unique and authentic research and training opportunities to underrepresented, minority students that go beyond the training received by traditional degree-granting institutions.
  • Increase the number and preparedness of underrepresented minority students earning undergraduate degrees in marine sciences and related natural resources field.
  • Create resources and develop best practices to share among students, academic faculty, and independent marine research institution staff to improve academic and career retention and success in the marine sciences.
  • Show the vital role that independent marine research institutions play in academic and early career recruitment, retention, and success.

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LS-PAC Models Center of Excellence

Louis Stokes Midwest Regional Center of Excellence logo

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Louis Stokes Center for the Promotion of Academic Careers Through Motivational Opportunities to Develop Emerging Leaders in STEM (LS-PAC-MODELS), herein referred to as LS-PACs, was one of six Louis Stokes Regional Centers of Excellence (LSRCEs) recently awarded funding to conduct broadening participation research and STEM activities that result in increased degreed minority students entering into the STEM workforce. In collaboration with IBM, our data-driven center is focused on developing a national model from the undergraduate to graduate levels that supports recruitment, training, and retention of underrepresented minorities (URMs) in the STEM workforce.

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NSF International Center of Excellence (NICE)

NSF International Center of Excellence (NICE) logo

LSAMP NICE is a Regional Center of Excellence in Broadening Participation in STEM through the expansion of International Research and Professional Development for STEM students and faculty members. The Center serves as a bridge of strategic alliances, designed to facilitate student and faculty engagement in international research and scholarly exchanges. The Center has robust partnerships comprised of 23 different LSAMPs nationwide and 21 Tribal-Serving Institutions, representing nearly 30,000 students from historically underrepresented groups in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

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Southeastern Coalition for Engagement and Exchange in Nanotechnology Education (SCENE)

Southeastern Coalition for Engagement and Exchange in Nanotechnology Education (SCENE) logo

Norfolk State University, Tidewater Community College and Pennsylvania State University (lead collaborators) and other partner organizations that include the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Langley Research Center (NASA-LaRC), Jefferson National Research Laboratory Applied Research Center (JLab-ARC), and Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS), all active members of the broader nanoscience and engineering research community, will collaborate as part of the Southeastern Coalition for Engagement and Exchange in Nanotechnology Education (SCENE), a regional Louis Stokes Center for Excellence in Broadening Participation. SCENE utilizes nanotechnology and its many applications as a conduit for engaging and inspiring talented students from traditionally underrepresented minority populations. The program design augments an extensive summer training and internship component, with an aggressive strategy to prepare and mentor talented students as they generate portfolios and generate competitive profiles for research opportunities at national labs and federal research agencies (e.g. NSF GRFP and NASA Graduate Student Fellowship Program (GSFP) applications).

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Louis Stokes Regional Center of Excellence for the Study of STEM Interventions (SOSI Center)

Louis Stokes Regional Center of Excellence for the Study of STEM Interventions (SOSI Center) logo

Housed at the University of Missouri-Columbia (MU), the Louis Stokes Regional Center of Excellence for the Study of STEM Interventions (SOSI Center) is a newly awarded NSF initiative which supports an inter-institutional collaboration between MU, Understanding Interventions that Broaden Participation in Science (UI), and the University of Michigan. The SOSI Center focuses on cultivating the cultural awareness and scholarly productivity of future and existing STEM training program leaders by providing venues for training and development related to critical, strengths-based theories and evidence-based practices. These concepts focus on facilitating underrepresented students’ success in STEM through: 1) Exploration of mechanisms that center students' identities, cultures, and experiences, in meaningful ways, within STEM programming, teaching, mentoring, and research; 2) Implementation of research guided by identity-focused, and social-cognitive theoretical frameworks; 3) Methodologies relevant to developing critical scholarly contributions to inform practice and scholarship development and dissemination.

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Louis Stokes Regional Center of Excellence for Inclusive Mentoring in STEM (IM STEM Center)

The Louis Stokes Regional Center of Excellence for Inclusive Mentoring in STEM (Louis Stokes IM STEM Center) is dedicated to advancing, curating and disseminating evidence-based mentoring practices that consider diversity, equity and inclusion as integral elements of the mentor-protégé experience. The IM STEM Center brings together academic, DoE laboratories and industrial partners from the Rockies and Southwest states. Focal areas of our research include bridge to the baccalaureate, internship, undergraduate research, and PAESMEM programs.

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