• Provide inter-institutional engaging research experiences for undergraduate and graduate students
  
  
• Review and recommend innovative measures and guidelines for graduate admission criteria
  
  
• Aggressively recruit and retain excellent minority students to the alliance institutions
  
  
• Provide multi-year funding package for accepted minority graduate students
  
  
• Expand professoriate and mentor training programs to alliance institutions
  
  
• Develop and implement continuous assessment tools to evaluate the alliance's objectives

The project’s main activities will be focused on three basic areas:

1. Recruiting strategies:

• SMET Recruiting Teams from across the alliance, will visit Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU’s), Hispanic Serving Institutions (HIS), Tribal Colleges, Predominantly Minority Institutions, and targeted Community Colleges to inform students of available summer research and graduate study opportunities.
  
  
• Provide an Undergraduate Summer Program that will consist of a research experience and a seminar component. This will aid in the transition from undergraduate study and encourage students to participate in advanced degree programs.
  
  
• Host Annual Symposium for undergraduate and graduate students designed to attract underrepresented groups in the SMET areas. It will also provide a forum for either undergraduate and graduate students to present their research experiences via oral or poster presentations.
  2. Mentoring and Retention:

The primary purpose of a mentoring program is to create a supportive academic and social environment that will focus on a successful completion of a doctoral program.

3. Future Faculty Preparation:

To become a successful academic, it takes more than mastering knowledge of the subject matter. We will focus on three main skills: teaching, professional and research development.