Demonstrating UNLV’s commitment to improving the lives of our students and transforming our communities, the university was selected as one of 10 national grant recipients in the highly competitive Sloan Centers for Systemic Change (SCSC) program. This national graduate education initiative aims to improve the recruitment, retention, and graduation of doctoral students of color in the physical sciences and engineering.
The UNLV Graduate College, in partnership with the College of Sciences and the Howard R. Hughes College of Engineering, has received initial seed funding of $250,000 to develop recruitment pathways, expand mentorship support to include a near-peer mentoring program, and establish a “mentoring mentors” program for faculty.
The seed grant represents the first step in a much larger multi-year competitive funding scheme that places UNLV in competition to receive $2.8 million of scholarship monies to develop a Sloan Scholars Program over the next three years.
“As an R1 institution, grant programs such as this are vital to the success of our scholarly community,” said Alyssa Crittenden, vice provost for Graduate Education and dean of the Graduate College — and a lead principal investigator (PI) on the grant. “The programming that we are developing will play a crucial role in promoting diversity, offering research opportunities, encouraging innovation, and creating a more vibrant and inclusive academic environment.”
The proposed programming utilizes the most promising practices in the field today and rests on four pillars:
- Expansion of the graduate summer Building Resilient and Inclusive Discoveries to Graduate Education (BRIDGE) program for incoming first-year graduate students,
- Redesigning graduate recruitment and admissions to embody holistic admissions
- A peer mentorship program connecting first-year doctoral students in STEM departments with more senior students, providing sustained professional development and entrepreneurial opportunities
- A doctoral supervisor mentorship program using theoretically-grounded, evidence-based, and culturally-responsive training interventions
Programming will kick off this spring semester as participating STEM faculty engage in a semester-long training on developing more equitable selection systems. This highly competitive national opportunity is advanced through the Equity in Graduate Education Resource Center, where UNLV has been selected as an institutional partner (joining in cohort with UC Berkeley, MIT, Cornell, Virginia Tech, and others). Also launching this spring is the first in a series of foundational training opportunities for faculty mentors, facilitated through a partnership with the Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research (CIMER).
UNLV's Strategic STEAM Initiative
The Sloan award is part of a larger university-wide initiative in researching, implementing, and innovating best practices in STEM education. As the national need for STEM talent (particularly at the graduate level) grows exponentially, UNLV is poised to educate and train a diverse generation of experts in STEM fields who are ready to enter the global workforce.
“I am proud of UNLV’s commitment to ensuring that everyone is represented at the STEM table. It is a high-impact change move that will benefit our students, our city, and our state,” said Marta Meana, who leads UNLV’s strategic STEAM initiative and is a lead PI on the grant.
The Sloan initiative at UNLV is a collaborative effort - with over two dozen participants across the Office of the President, Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost, Division of Diversity Initiatives, Tribal Education Initiative, Academic Affairs, Graduate College, College of Sciences, College of Engineering, College of Liberal Arts, and College of Education.
Key contributors include academic faculty (both research-active and teaching-intensive), administrative faculty, and executive leadership. Beyond Crittenden (Graduate College) and Meana (President’s Office), co-PIs include Blanca Rincón (Education), Eric Chronister (Sciences), Rama Venkat (Engineering), and José Luis Melendrez (Diversity Initiatives).
It is this type of willingness to cooperate across disciplines that is essential for breaking down systemic barriers and fostering a more inclusive and diverse learning environment, said UNLV President Keith E. Whitfield.
“The training and resources that will be provided by this important initiative go beyond academic expertise,” Whitfield said. “The infrastructure that this dynamic UNLV team is building will work to actively cultivate future leaders who can contribute to their fields and promote positive change. I could not be more excited and proud of our team and this initiative.”
This burgeoning collaboration between UNLV and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation will encourage scholars to pursue groundbreaking research and innovative projects, contributing to advancements in science, engineering, technology, and other fields. This is the first step in a multi-year journey to fund doctoral students in STEM, supporting not only individual success but building a more inclusive, innovative, and equitable STEM community and workforce at UNLV, in the Las Vegas Valley, and beyond.
