Fisk-Vanderbilt program to grow diversity in STEM PhDs

[Tanuki]

http://fisk-vanderbilt-bridge.org/program/description/
"The Fisk-Vanderbilt Master’s to PhD Bridge Program exists to improve the demographic representation in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. Studies indicate that underrepresented minority (URM) students are more likely to use the master’s degrees as a stepping stone to the PhD. Hence, to increase the number of URM students engaged in PhD-level STEM research, a relationship between Fisk University, which is an accredited Historically Black Colleges and University (HBCU), and Vanderbilt University was conceived.
...The Fisk-Vanderbilt Master’s to PhD Bridge Program took its first student in September 2004. With extramural funding in place from NASA, NSF CAREER and IGERT programs along with generous support from both institutions, the program has grown in size and scope and by August 2015 we will have enrolled around 90 students.
As of Spring 2015, we have produced 16 PhD graduates in Physics, Astronomy and Materials Science. Every student has acquired STEM-related employment prior to graduation. Among these early cohorts are the first African American female to graduate from the astronomy program at Yale and the first African American female astronomer to publish a first-author Nature article. We are now on track to produce 3-5 PhDs a year. Fisk is the number one producer of African American earned Master’s Degrees. With an 80% retention rate to the PhD and a 97% overall retention rate. The Fisk-Vanderbilt Bridge Program is contributing significantly to the STEM workforce and academe.

The productivity and accomplishments of our students is outstanding. They have published dozens of manuscripts, including the first astronomy paper in Nature with an African American female as first author. Our students have won competitive Ford Fellowships, NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, NASA Harriet Jenkins Fellowships, and NIH NRSA Predoctoral Awards among many other grants. They have presented their science all over the world and increased the national attention to our program model.

(more at link, including a toolkit for replicating the program elsewhere)