| With funding from the National Science Foundation, the Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) program seeks to increase the number of underrepresented domestic students (i.e. African Americans, Hispanics, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians or other Pacific Islanders) receiving doctoral degrees in the sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and to encourage these grad uates to enter the professoriate.
As part of the Rice-Houston AGEP, the University of Houston began its own AGEP program in 2005, the UH-AGEP. This program is open to all students in STEM fields and is particularly aimed toward minority students. In the UH-AGEP, students will find a community of scholars that will help them to overcome the difficulties that can arise from pursuing a STEM degree, thus enhancing their experience as a student and increasing likelihood of their success. Students will be able to interact with others that are, or have been, in a situation that is similar to their own.
In addition to Rice University, our other partner in encouraging minority students to pursue academic careers in STEM is the Houston Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (H-LSAMP). While H-LSAMP encourages students to major in science and engineering, we strive to give these students a broader exposure to these fields beyond the classroom through research.
UH-AGEP offers many programs including summer research, travel grants, a lecture series, and development workshops. These programs supplement the supportive community environment we strive to create for minority students pursuing majors in the sciences and engineering. |
