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CAMPARE and Cal-‐Bridge: Engaging Underrepresented Students in
Physics and Astronomy
Alexander L. Rudolph, Cal Poly Pomona
Why CAMPARE and Cal-‐Bridge?
• “Little progress has been made in increasing the number of minorities in astronomy.” – 2010 Astronomy Decadal Survey
• Black Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Native Americans constitute 30 percent of the U.S. population, yet they account for only 4 percent of astronomy PhDs awarded in the United States and only 3 percent of faculty members
• One of the greatest barriers to promoting diversity in the sciences is the GRE test • One of the top approaches the Decadal survey recommended to overcome this underrepresentation is, “Partnerships of community colleges and minority-‐serving institutions with research universities and with national centers and laboratories”
• “Federal agencies should encourage projects that establish collaborations between research universities and community colleges or other institutions that do not have research programs.” – President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology
2010 2060 Non-white 60% 70% California Hispanic 38% 48% Non-white 37% 57% United States Hispanic 17% 31%
Why CAMPARE and Cal-‐Bridge?
Source: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics. 2015. http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/.
43±12 URM PhDs per year in Physics 4±2 URM PhDs per year in Astronomy
GRE does not predict success• GRE correlates modestly with 1st year graduate GPA and passing a qualifying exam
• GRE does not correlate strongly with scientific success (PhD completion, research productivity, publication citations)
• Other measures – grit, academic self-‐efficacy, growth mindset, and other non-‐cognitive skills – strongly correlate with success and are not correlated with GRE scores (e.g. Duckworth et al 2007)*
• Average PhD completion rate in US: ~50% (Council of Graduate Schools, 2004)
Kuncel & Hezlett (2010)
*See also work by William Sedlacek (U Md) and Carol Dweck (Stanford)
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1.0
400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
Fraction (F)Fraction (M)
Source: ETS
0.25 (F)
0.46 (M)
650*
Physics GRE: Impact of Cutoff Scores
Source: ETSSlide courtesy of Ted Hodapp, APS Bridge Program *40th percentile for tests taken 2010-‐2013
Physics GRE: Impact of Cutoff Scores
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400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
Fraction (White)
Fraction (Hispanic)
Fraction (Black)
Fraction (Asian)
0.09 (Black)
0.34 (Hispanic)0.44 (White)
650*
0.61 (Asian)
Source: ETS
*40th percentile for tests taken 2010-‐2013 Source: ETSSlide courtesy of Ted Hodapp, APS Bridge Program
*NSF, Hubble, Einstein, Sagan, Jansky
*
40%ile PGRE cutoff eliminates over 20% of prize fellowship recipients
including over 25% of women (N=149)
Histogram of PGRE percentile scores Histogram of first author publications
Levesque, Bezenson, & Tremblay (2015)
35-‐year retrospective study PGRE scores for a major R1 Astronomy Department
• Comparison of PhD completion rates between students above and below a 40th %tile PGRE score (with a range from teens to high 80s)1. No statistically significant difference between two
groups for men2. For women, low PGRE group graduated at a lower
rate then high PGRE group3. Not enough URM students to make statistical comparisons
• These results suggest that the PGRE is a poor predictor of PhD completion (#1)…
• …but that women (and URM students?) may suffer disproportionately from Imposter Syndrome (#2)
Misuse of (general) GRE suppresses diversity, also
• Use of GRE cutoff scores (even on the quantitative test) in grad admissions significantly impacts diversity.
• Can explain minority underrepresentation in PhD programs fully from GRE quantitative cutoff
Miller & Stassun (Nature 510, 303-‐304 (2014) doi:10.1038/nj7504-‐303a)
The cost of the GRE is a burden on low-‐income students
• The GRE costs $195 and the PGRE costs $150, plus it cost $27/school to report scores
• Many students take the exam multiple times and apply to 5-‐10 programs; the GRE can represent a $500-‐2000 investment, sometimes with no return
• ETS fee reduction program covers 50% of these costs a single time, and has exceptionally stringent eligibility requirements
A statement approved by the AAS council* “Given the research indicating that the GRE and PGRE are poor predictors of graduate student success, that their use in graduate admissions has a particularly negative impact on under-‐represented groups, and that they represent a financial burden for many students in pursuing advanced degrees in the astronomical sciences, the AAS recommends that graduate programs eliminate or make optional the GRE and PGRE as metrics of evaluation for graduate applicants.”*http://aas.org/governance/council-‐resolutions#GRE
Bottom line
• We are pretty bad at selecting graduate students (50% attrition rate)
• Even if a program’s attrition rate is lower than this, there are intrinsic biases in the system in favor of some groups – e.g., GRE, less access to “prestige” schools, research opportunities
• “Diversity” programs like CAMPARE and Cal-‐Bridge should be considered “equal opportunity programs”: a way to balance the intrinsic advantages society gives to the majority groups
• These programs can help identify those students with the “grit” or other factors that lead to success, and help them complete their B.S. and successfully apply to graduate school
The good news• We now know of other ways to assess potential for success in
academia• Non-‐cognitive measures, such as grit, have been shown by
research to be highly correlated with long-‐term success in fields like research
• These measures are not hard to implement, but they do take some extra effort, e.g., interviews of at least some candidates
• No one is suggesting ignoring grades or letters of recommendation; in fact a good letter from a mentor in a program like Cal-‐Bridge may carry more weight than ever
• Change will only come when graduate programs acknowledge the research on the misuse of the GRE (subject and general)
We’ve been looking here
Lower risk, much more likely to succeed, and more diverse
Probably will succeed in grad school but not very diverse
High risk, likely to struggle and fail
Students we take now, many of whom struggle and fail
GRE scores
Grit
Low High
High
Low
Lower risk, much more likely to succeed, and more diverse
Probably will succeed in grad school but not very diverse
High risk, likely to struggle and fail
Students we take now, many of whom struggle and fail
GRE scores
Grit
Low High
High
Low
We should be looking here
Pre-‐major/major transition is critical• 70% of URM STEM students are lost at pre-‐major to major
transition (v. 40% for non-‐URM STEM students)• 20% of URM STEM majors go on to Master's degree• 2% of URM STEM majors go on to PhD
Source: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics. 2015. http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/.
National Academies (2011)
National Academies (2011)
California is the place to create these programs
The CSU is the place to find URM studentsFall 2011 Enrollment*
CSU UG Enrollment Hisp enrollment %Hisp URM enrollment %URM HSI MSISouth Bakersfield 6863 3088 45.0 3651 53.2 x x
Channel Islands 4017 1197 29.8 1289 32.1 xDominguez Hills 11636 5445 46.8 7842 67.4 x xFullerton 30782 10404 33.8 11450 37.2 xLong Beach 29371 9633 32.8 11160 38.0 xLos Angeles 17399 9465 54.4 10491 60.3 x xNorthridge 31893 11609 36.4 14096 44.2 xPomona 19399 6615 34.1 7332 37.8 xSan Bernardino 14884 7233 48.6 8632 58.0 x xSan Diego 25796 7042 27.3 8332 32.3 xSan Luis Obispo 17725 2286 12.9 2570 14.5San Marcos 9486 2883 30.4 3225 34.0 xTotal South 219251 76900 35.1 90070 41.1 11 4% of CSU enrollment 61.0 69.2 67.9
Fall 2011 Enrollment*CSU UG Enrollment Hisp enrollment %Hisp URM enrollment %URM HSI MSI
North Chico 14766 2598 17.6 3012 20.4East Bay 10718 2207 20.6 3547 33.1Fresno 19132 7193 37.6 8265 43.2 xHumboldt 7433 1501 20.2 1910 25.7Monterey Bay 4806 1725 35.9 1999 41.6 xSacramento 24830 5313 21.4 7250 29.2San Francisco 25383 5178 20.4 6675 26.3San Jose 24804 5456 22.0 6697 27.0Sonoma 7792 1449 18.6 1659 21.3Stanislaus 7922 3105 39.2 3453 43.6 xTotal North 148472 35839 24.1 44628 30.1 3 0% of CSU enrollment 39.0 30.8 32.1
Grand Total 367723 112739 30.7 134698 36.6 14 4*http://nces.ed.gov
22 home institutions14 CSU campuses8 community colleges19 Hispanic Serving Institutions
13 Research institutions10 in California8 in Southern California2 in Arizona; 1 in Wyoming
CAMPARE: a network of STEM research opportunities for underserved undergraduates
CAMPARE20-‐25 students per year
Cal Poly Pomona
Cal State Fullerton
San Jose State Univ.
Cal State Los Angeles
Santa Monica College
Sonoma State University
Cal State Northridge
Cal State San Bernardino
Cal State San Marcos
Cal State Fresno
Cal State Dominguez Hills
El Camino College
Cal State Sacramento
MiraCosta College
San Diego State Univ.
Cypress College
Norco College
Mt. San Antonio College
San Francisco State Univ.
Palomar College
College of the Canyons
Cal State Long Beach
SETI Institute
University of Arizona
UCI, UCLA, UCSD, UCR, UCSB, UCB
JPL, Caltech,Carnegie Obs.
Northern Arizona Univ.
University of Wyoming
80 participants over 7 years
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2
4
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2010 2011 2012 2013 2014* 2015* 2016
Num
ber o
f Partic
ipants
CPP
Carnegie
NAU
Harvard/CPP
Wyoming
UC
JPL/Caltech
SETI
Arizona
*Drop in 2014-‐15 due to drop in funding
CAMPARE: Who has participated?80 students from 12 CSUs and 4 community colleges, and many different majors:• Physics and Astronomy, Geology, Chemistry, Math, CS, Biology, Zoology• Aerospace, Computer, Electrical, and Mechanical Engineering
Demographic Breakdown of CAMPARE Participants 2010-‐2015 (N=62)
• More than 85% are URM, female, or both• 59% are Hispanic, African American, or multiple ethnicity
Science with CAMPARE
Science with CAMPARE• Astronomy
– Studies of the M17 Molecular Cloud (Omega Nebula)– Extended Red Objects and Stellar Wind Bow Shocks in the Carina Nebula– Modeling Emission Lines and Dust around T Cha – Brown Dwarfs as Gravitational Microlensers– Obliquity Measurements from Starspots in the GJ1214b Exoplanetary
System• Planetary Science
– Morphology of Dunes Observed on Titan– Morphology and Classification of Martian Dunes– Search for Hazardous Near-‐Earth Objects
• Astrobiology– OREOcube experiment on the ISS– SETI: Software Development at the ATA
• Astronomy Education Research– Worldviews of Introductory Astronomy Students
CAMPARE: Presentations at national meetingsOver 35 CAMPARE students have presented at national meetings such as the American Astronomical Society (AAS) meetings in Seattle, Austin, Long Beach, Washington, DC, and Kissimmee, the American Geophysical Union (AGU) meetings in San Francisco, and LPSC in The Woodlands, TX
Stephanie Zajac (above) was selected as one of the winners of the Chambliss Astronomy Achievement Student Award competition, “given to recognize exemplary research by undergraduate students who present posters at the semi-‐annual AAS meetings”
They even have fun
CAMPARE: Where are they now?Of the 37 participants who have graduated since CAMPARE began:• 21 are pursuing or have a graduate degree (M.S. or Ph.D.)• 12 are in Ph.D. programs across the country (UCLA, UCR, Stanford, U. Nevada, Reno,
U. Oregon, Indiana U., Kent State, U. Rochester, Syracuse U., Georgia Tech)• Most of the others are pursuing a variety of STEM careers
Testimonials“I attribute all of my success thus far to CAMPARE. I would be nowhere without the program. If they say a journey starts with single step, well for me that first step was CAMPARE.” –Nicole Sanchez, Fisk-‐Vanderbilt Master’s-‐to-‐PhD program
“CAMPARE was a gateway…I can trace my current path of acceptance to a doctoral program at Georgia Tech…to a conversation with Dr. Rudolph who encouraged me to apply for CAMPARE. [The program] builds a network of support and encouragement, a network which some of us have lacked [and] is often overlooked.” –Heather Chilton, Earth Sciences PhD program, Georgia Tech
“As an undergraduate physics major…I was really interested in astronomy, but pursuing a PhD in physics or astronomy was out of the question for me…all I could read and hear from people was how difficult it was for a minority student like me to get into PhD programs. Being a participant of the CAMPARE program opened many doors for me, and developed me into a competitive applicant for graduate school. I will now be able to pursue my dreams of becoming an astronomer as I was accepted into four physics and astronomy PhD programs.” – Mario Cabrera, Astronomy PhD program, U. Rochester
Cal-‐Bridge: A CSU-‐UC PhD Bridge Program
What is Cal-‐Bridge?• Cal-‐Bridge is a partnership between faculty at CSU, UC, and
community colleges in Southern California designed to help CSU undergraduates obtain PhDs in astronomy (and soon physics), especially those traditionally underrepresented in those fields
• It is a 3-‐year program encompassing the last two years of undergraduate and first year of graduate school
Community Colleges
CSU Bachelor’s programs
CSU Master’s programs
UC PhD programs
If needed
Main pathway
What is Cal-‐Bridge?• Cal-‐Bridge provides scholarship funding, mentoring,
professional development opportunities, and research opportunities, to help Cal-‐Bridge Scholars complete their degree in Physics, and successfully enter a PhD program in Astronomy (and soon Physics) at one of five southern California UC schools (UCLA, UCSD, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC Santa Barbara)
• The program is open to students at participating CSU campuses in Southern California (soon to expand to all of California)
• Faculty from both the CSU and UC campuses participate in all aspects of the program, from selection, to mentoring, to assisting in the application process to a PhD program
Location of Cal-‐Bridge South campuses
There is a strong (and growing) network of over 60 CSU faculty involved in this project: more are needed!
Cal-‐Bridge North (30)SJSU (10) SFSU (8) CSU East Bay (5) Sac State (4) Sonoma State (3)Aaron Romanowsky** (A) Joseph Barranco (A) Amy Furniss (A) Bill DeGraffenreid (P) Scott Severson (A)Michael Kaufman (A) Adrienne Cool (A) Jennie Guzman (P) Vera Margoniner (A) Lynn Cominsky (A)Monika Kress (A) Kristan Jensen (P) Ryan Smith (P) Christopher Taylor (A) Hongtai Shi (P)Ehsan Khatami (P) Stephen Kane (P) Derek Jackson-‐Kimball (P) Jerome Buerki (P)Benedikt Harrer (P) Susan Lea (A) Erik Helgren (P)RankoHeindl, (P) WeiningMan (P)Carel Boekema (P) Ron Marzke (A)Peter Beyersdorf (P) AKM Newaz (P)Neil Switz (P)Cassandra Paul (A)
Cal-‐Bridge South (36)Cal Poly Pomona (6) SDSU (7) CSU Long Beach (7) CSU San Bernardino (4) CSU Northridge (5)Alex Rudolph*,** (A) Usha Sinha(P) Prashanth Jaikumar (A) Carol Hood (A) Damian Christian (A)Matt Povich (A) Eric Sandquist (A) Thomas Gredig (P) Laura Woodney (A) Cristina Cadavid (A)Steve McCauley (P) Robert Quimby (A) Michael Peterson (P) Paul Dixon (P) Yohannes Shiferaw (P)Jorge Moreno (A) Kenneth Nollett (P) Galen Pickett (P) SaraCallori (P) Debi Choudhary (A)Qing Ryan (P) Arlette Baljon (P) Jiyeong Gu (P) Say-‐Peng Lim (A)Ertan Salik (P) FridolinWeber (P) Andreas Bill (P)
Jerome Orosz (A) Chuhee Kwon (P)
CSU Dominguez Hills (2) CSU Fullerton (2) CSU San Marcos (2) CSULA (1)Ximena Cid (P) Josh Smith (P) Gerardo Dominguez (A) Susan Terebey (A)John Price (P) Michael Loverude(P) Ed Price, (P)Bold = Cal-‐Bridge Steering Committee*Cal-‐Bridge Director **Cal-‐Bridge CSU co-‐Director
There is a strong (and growing) network of almost 60 UC faculty involved in this project: more are needed!
Cal-‐Bridge South (28)UC Santa Barbara (2) UCLA (3) UCSD (5) UC Riverside (8) UC Irvine (10)CrystalMartin (A) Smadar Naoz (A) Adam Burgasser (A) Laura Sales (A) Tammy Smecker-‐Hane* (A)Joan-‐Emma Shea (P) Tommaso Treu (A) Quinn Konopacky (A) Flip Tanedo (P) KevorkAbazajian (A)
James Larkin (A) Shelley Wright (A) Fred Hamann (A) Michael Cooper (A)Karin Sandstrom(A) Gabriela Canalizo (A) Aaron Barth (A)Vivek Sharma (P) Brian Siana (P) James Bullock (A)
Owen Long (P) Manoj Kaplinghat (A)Cal-‐Bridge North (29) Jory Yarmoff (P) Sid Parameswaran (A)UCSC (11) UC Berkeley (6) UC Davis (10) John Ellison (P) Daniel Whiteson (A)Bruce Schumm* (P) Chung-‐Pei Ma (A) Mani Tripathi (P) David Kirkby (P)Michael Dine (P) Ori Ganor (P) David Wittman (P) Laura Tucker (P)Sue Carter, (P) Bob Jacobsen (P) MarusaBradac (P)Alexander Sher (P) Yury Kolomensky (P) Daniel Cebra (P)Stefano Profumo (P) Gibor Basri (A) Maxwell Chertok (P)David Williams (P) Aaron Parsons (A) Richard Scalettar (P)David Lederma (P) Rena Zieve (P)Enrico Ramirez-‐Ruiz (A) UC Merced (2) Nick Curro (P)Connie Rockosi (A) Jay Sharping (P) Rajiv Singh (P)Raja Guhathakurta (A) Jing Xu (P) Markus Luty (P)David Smith (P)
Bold = Cal-‐Bridge Steering Committee*Cal-‐Bridge UC co-‐Director
First 12 Cal-‐Bridge Scholars Selected• Two cohorts: 4 in 2014-‐15, 8 in 2015-‐16• Eight Hispanics and four women, including two Hispanic women• All four members of first cohort have been accepted to PhD programs (including one,
Katy Rodriguez Wimberly who was awarded an NSF GRF!)
Ten of the twelve Cal-‐Bridge scholars at the 2015 New Scholar Orientation
How does Cal-‐Bridge work?• Select promising students (interviews, academics, leadership,
communication skills, research experience, grit,…)
• Financial support (no need to work, allowing Scholars to focus on academics)
• Active monitoring of performance and progress– Network of support (UC and CSU faculty, current and former Cal-‐Bridge
Scholars)
– Regular check-‐ins with course instructors, tutoring, active support
– Community: “critical mass” and “tiered mentorship”
• Professional Development Workshops: “insider knowledge”
• Research opportunities (CAMPARE, CSU and UC faculty): learn what it means to be a successful researcher
What does being a CSU Cal-‐Bridge mentor entail?
• Meet at least twice per month with scholar (along with UC mentor)
• Intensive academic mentoring– Following detailed course progress– Helping scholars develop good study habits– Help applying for summer research opportunities– Advice on and support for graduate admissions process
• Solicit information from instructors for monthly steering committee meetings
• Provide assessment of scholar progress to steering committee
What does being a UCCal-‐Bridge mentor entail?
• Meet at least twice per month with scholar (along with CSU mentor)
• Intensive academic mentoring– Following detailed course progress– Helping scholars develop good study habits– Help applying for summer research opportunities– Advice on and support for graduate admissions process
• Provide assessment of scholar progress to steering committee
• Possibly lead professional development workshops• Possibly act as summer research mentor
What does being a steering committee member entail?
• Made up of 4 CSU faculty, 4 UC faculty, one CC faculty/staff• Headed by two co-‐Directors: one CSU, one UC faculty• Meet once per month virtually and 1-‐2 times in person• Selects scholars
– Read applications– Conduct interviews– Steering committee makes final selection
• Track scholar progress monthly• Design, schedule, and run monthly professional
development workshops (0-‐1 per year for typical member)
What does being a co-‐Director entail?• CSU co-‐Director runs program on a daily basis, assisted by
UC co-‐Director and Program Coordinator• CSU and UC co-‐Directors act as Chair and Vice-‐chair of
steering committee• Responsible for
– supervising application process– scheduling/running of committee meetings– collecting scholar tracking information– supporting workshop faculty in organizing and running workshops– scholar communication– everything else!
Key Elements of Cal-‐Bridge• Three years of full scholarship funding: last two years of
undergraduate and first year of graduate tuition and fees• Assignment of two mentors: one from a participating UC
campus, one from the student’s home CSU campus• Extensive mentoring in academics and professional
development to assist in preparing to apply to complete the bachelor’s degree and apply for graduate school
• Summer and academic year research opportunities at the participating UC campuses
• Opportunities to present results at regional and national conferences
Cal-‐Bridge expansion projects to create >30 new URM PhDs in Physics and Astronomy per year
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8 8
24
32 3234
36
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Number of Scholars
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Proposed expansion
Current program
Cal-‐Bridge can cut the “achievement gap” with the rest of STEM by half
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
STEM PhDs (2002-‐2012)
Physics and Astronomy PhDs (2002-‐2012)
%URM
PhD
s
Cal-‐Bridge Goals
Current Situation
~50 PhDs per year
~25-‐35 more PhDs per year
~50 more PhDs per year
What’s next?• Work to show that CAMPARE plus Cal-‐Bridge can have an
impact on the numbers of minority students and women obtaining PhDs in physics and astronomy (will take 5-‐10 years)
• Find long-‐term funding for both CAMPARE and Cal-‐Bridge (CSU Chancellor’s office, UCOP, individual UC campuses)
• Expand Cal-‐Bridge South to include physics• Support creation of Cal-‐Bridge North• We are actively recruiting physics and astronomy faculty from
both CSUs and UCs to participate (more than 120 so far)• Do you want to get involved? Let’s talk!
NSF S-‐STEM Proposal (May 16)
CAMPARE and Cal-‐Bridge: Engaging Underrepresented Students in
Physics and Astronomy
Alexander L. Rudolph, Cal Poly Pomona
