Collaborative Research: NSF INCLUDES: Consortium of Minority Doctoral Scholars (CMDS)

Hispanic and African American students make up only a small percentage of doctoral students in the U.S.

The nation expects major growth in engineering and computing jobs in the next 10 years, yet these impending workforce demands cannot be met without developing the skills of racial and ethnic minorities.

The Consortium of Minority Doctoral Scholars (CMDS) Design and Development Launch Pilot aims to broaden the participation of minority students in these fields.

Researchers are creating a data portal study and understand the effectiveness of various mentoring strategies that might be piloted across institutions and minority doctoral scholars programs.

The consortium unites three of the nation's oldest and most prominent minority doctoral scholars programs; organizations with a long history of increasing the numbers of minorities obtaining advanced degrees.

By identifying effective mentoring strategies, the project will create opportunities for larger numbers of minorities to succeed.

This work has implications for greater equity and access and for the development of a workforce that will drive future advances.