Texas A&M University

 Graduate and Professional School

AGEP I

TAMUS – E&S AGEP at Texas A&M University

The Texas A&M University System - Energy & Sustainability Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (TAMUS E&S AGEP) was a collaboration between five Texas A&M University System institutions aimed at broadening pathways to the professoriate for underrepresented minorities (URM) in STEM disciplines.

Advancing Interdisciplinary Stem Graduate Education in Energy and Sustainability Disciplines

TAMUS – E&S AGEP successfully curated and sustained large-scale, distributed, yet interconnected STEM communities among the diverse Alliance institutions that increased participation, reduced barriers, and promoted success of URM doctoral students preparing for careers in the professoriate. The program was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) as part of a nationwide, multi-institutional initiative to facilitate the development of a diverse and highly skilled STEM workforce.

TAMUS – E&S AGEP

Participating System Institutions

InstitutionDesignation
Texas A&M University – College Station (TAMUCS)

Research I University and Lead Institution

Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU)

Historically Black College and University (HBCU)

Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi (TAMUCC)
Minority Serving Institution (MSI)
Texas A&M University – Kingsville (TAMUK)
Minority Serving Institution (MSI)
West Texas A&M University (WTAMU)
Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI)


Achieving Our Goals

The Alliance pursued the following strategic objectives with the intention of increasing the number of successful URM STEM faculty:

  1. Increase the number of underrepresented minorities (URMs) entering STEM doctoral degree programs at participating institutions.
  2. Reduce the average time to degree for the TAMUS AGEP Alliance URM doctoral students, and increase the percentage of students across the Alliance completing their doctoral degrees in five years.
  3. Provide the AGEP Alliance students with the preparation necessary to compete for competitive postdocs and faculty positions and increase the number of URMs transitioning from Ph.D. programs to competitive postdocs and faculty positions.
  4. Foster TAMUS research collaborations to support Alliance-wide collaboration with undergraduate, master’s, and Ph.D. student researchers.

To achieve these goals, the alliance utilized four strategies: Recruitment, an Alliance-wide Fellowship and Research Funding Lab, Professional Development, and Community Building.


Looking Forward

Successes of TAMUS E&S AGEP included participants completing Ph.D. degrees, the transition of participants to academia and post docs, and continued interest of some participants in careers in academia.

The program at Texas A&M System institutions ran from September 15, 2013 - August 31, 2019. As the goals of the national AGEP project changed, TAMUS E&S AGEP was succeeded by a second AGEP project entitled TxARM (Texas A&M System Research Model).

AGEP II: TXARM

Sources

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Award No. HRD-1308144, 1308163, 1308149, 1308080, 1308200. This NSF-funded AGEP program includes a directive as stated in NSF 12-554 (http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/ 2012/nsf12554/nsf12554.htm) that the program “seeks to advance knowledge about models to improve pathways to the professoriate and success for historically underrepresented minority doctoral students, postdoctoral fellows and faculty, particularly African Americans, Hispanic Americans, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Native Pacific Islanders, in specific STEM disciplines and/or STEM education research fields. The AGEP program’s goal is to increase the number of historically underrepresented minority faculty, in specific STEM disciplines and STEM education research fields, by advancing knowledge about pathways to career success.”