LSAMP at the Smithsonian

Participants in the 1999 AMP at the Smithsonian winter workshop.

A suite of opportunities specially designed for minority undergraduate students interested in a career in the natural history sciences.

The National Science Foundation's Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) is a comprehensive, multidisciplinary, undergraduate program designed to increase substantially the quantity and quality of students, especially African American, Hispanic, and Native American students, pursuing degrees and careers in science, mathematics, engineering and technology (SMET).

For three years (1998 - 2001) the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History Research Training Program partnered with NSF and LSAMP to share its expertise of, and excitement for natural history with students participating in the LSAMP program.

The LSAMP at the Smithsonian partnership was part of a larger initiative of the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) to participate in the training of the next generation of scientists in collections-based research and natural history studies including the biological, geological, and anthropological sciences.

The RTP/AMP partnership grew out of an initial meeting arranged by NMNH Director, Mr. Robert Fri, in April 1997 with NSF program officers Dr. William Sibley, Dr. William McHenry, and Dr. Terry Woodin to discuss ways NMNH could partner with existing NSF programs. Four potential partnerships were discussed including: Research opportunities for AMP scholars, internships in the RTP; Mini winter workshop for AMP scholars; Scholars link through the Natural Partners Program; and Science teachers partnership workshop. The RTP was contacted by Dr. William Sibley 21 May 1997 to pursue option one, internships for AMP scholars through the RTP summer program. The partnership was initiatiated Tuesday, 10 June 1997 when Dr. William McHenry, Dr. William Sibley and Shurron Farmer met with RTP representatives Mary Sangrey, John Kress, Jon Norenburg and Ross Simons at the NMNH. During the visit the group toured the collections and met with in-residence RTP teams, including Steve Cairs and intern Noah Feinstein; Ron Heyer and intern Anna Munoz (currently an AMP scholar); Doug Erwin and intern Carla Nappi; Tim McCoy and interns Greg Dehn and Klint Cowan; Don Ortner and intern Jessica Cafarella. Each RTP team was given about 10 minutes to present their project and answer questions.

Dr. McHenry is a chemist by training and was currently serving as the head of the National Science Foundation's "Alliances for Minority Participation" Program (AMP). Although planning to leave his post in the fall to become Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs" of the Mississippi School System, he was very interested in developing a relationship between the RTP and AMP for NMNH to serve as a site to host AMP activities.

AMP was a program administered by NSF to support the establishment of multi disciplinary opportunities for undergraduates students, through a variety of approaches, to increase the quantity of students achieving degrees in the science and engineering fields, including minority students and others that are currently underserved in science and engineering fields. The RTP was interested in building relationships with the AMP program by hosting AMP students in summer internships as well as developing a winter break internship opportunity.

Following the on-site meeting in May 1997 the RTP - with authorship by Sangrey, Kress, and Norenburg - submitted a letter of intent 25 Jun 1997 to the AMP program and upon successful review of this a full proposal was submitted 8 August 1997 requesting $60,379 to implement two cooperative initiatives to bring together the science of the Smithsonian with the objectives of the AMP program including support for 3 student positions in the 1998 RTP summer program and a two-week winter workshop at NMNH for 10 AMP scholars. The proposal was very positively reviewed and the RTP granted 2 years of full support, $120,758 through 30 April 2000. An award increase of $60,109 was granted 16 August 1999 and a supplement grant in October 2000 of $35,011 was awarded to support the 2001 winter workshop.

In the fall of 1997 Dr. A. James Hick assumed the position of Program Director of the NSF AMP program. Hicks is the former Dean of the COllege of Arts and Sciences at North Carolina A&T State University. A plant scientist, his B.S. in Biology is from Tougallo College and his Ph.D. is from University of Illinois, Urbana with postdoctoral work at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, Missouri. Dr. Hicks remained as the initiative NSP Program Officer throughout the duration of the partnership.

As recommended during the 2001 Winter Workshop, and with additional funding provided by NSF, a full time coordinator was sought to manage the LSAMP at the Smithsonian initiative. Following a nation-wide search and review, Dr. Bettye Blakney-Lawrence was hired 16 July 2001 as the initiative Scientific Program Manager. She was replaced several months later by Dr. Kelton Clark, a former intern and post doctoral fellow at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, Maryland.

The LSAMP at the Smithsonian was officially discontinued in the fall of 2003.

LSAMP at the Smithsonian founding partners: Roosevelt Calbert (former Division Director, NSF HRD); first student participants: Reyna Romero (RTP/AMP 1998), Wanda Lewis (RTP/AMP 1998), Kevin Stewart (RTP/AMP 1998); and Dr. A. James Hicks (NSF LSAMP Program Director).

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