STEM service recognized
UD's Louise Bank honored with Philadelphia AMP Distinguished Service Award
8:25 a.m., Nov. 7, 2011--Louise Bank, assistant director in the University of Delaware’s Office of Graduate and Professional Education, said she was “humbled and truly grateful” to receive the Greater Philadelphia Region Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (Philadelphia AMP) Distinguished Service Award at the alliance’s 14th annual Research and Mentoring Conference in Philadelphia on Oct. 15.
Bank was presented the award by Veniece Keene, project coordinator and senior research specialist with the Philadelphia AMP.
Honors Stories
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The Philadelphia AMP is a partnership of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and public and private two- and four-year institutions that have committed to substantially increase the numbers of African American, Hispanic and Native American students earning baccalaureate and advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
The nine-university consortium includes Cheyney University, Community College of Philadelphia, Delaware State University, Drexel University, Lincoln University, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Temple University, University of Delaware and University of Pennsylvania.
Bank accepted the honor “on behalf of all the UD graduate directors and faculty who rose to the call this past summer, opening a path for when the green light on the Bridge to the Doctorate Cohort IX would finally come. It is their daily work which ensures graduate student success and achievement at UD, and I feel privileged to support them,” she said.
Bank was critical to the University’s successful proposal submitted through the Philadelphia AMP this past May for the Bridge to the Doctorate program, according to Michael Vaughan, senior assistant dean in UD’s College of Engineering and principal investigator/director of UD’s Bridge to the Doctorate Cohort IX activities.
The Bridge to the Doctorate is a National Science Foundation initiative that aims to increase the number of minority students earning doctorates in STEM fields. Every two years, AMP member institutions compete for the opportunity to host a new cohort.
“Louise’s efforts around the Bridge to the Doctorate program were phenomenal,” said Vaughan. “We needed to work with the Office of Graduate and Professional Education and colleges across campus to develop the proposal, and then, in anticipation of funding, develop a process for rapidly attracting and admitting, via individual STEM graduate programs, our cohort of students, who all received fellowships through the program.”
This fall, 12 Bridge to the Doctorate students began classes at UD, including six students in the College of Engineering, three in the College of Arts and Sciences, and one each in the College of Health Sciences, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and the College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment.
In addition to their graduate research and courses, the students are involved in weekly mentoring activities and also participate in research conferences as part of their professional development, Vaughan said.
Article by Tracey Bryant