Become aLS-PAC MODELS Center Scholar
The LS-PAC MODELS Center in an NSF-funded Louis Stokes Regional Center of Excellence housed at LSU and supervised by Dr. Isiah Warner, Vice President for Strategic Initiatives and Professor of Analytical and Environmental Chemistry. The mission of our Center is to increase diversity in academic jobs. We do that by offering mentoring, professional development, and career networking opportunities for historically underrepresented students, postdocs, and early-career faculty (African-American/Black, American Indian or Alaska Native, and Hispanic/Latino) in STEM field who are interested in pursuing academic careers.
A major goal of our Center is to serve as a hub for colleges and universities who are looking to hire diverse candidates for academic positions. One of the things we commonly hear from academic departments is “we want to hire diverse students, but we have trouble finding them.” We intend to solve that problem by building a diverse talent pool of individuals in STEM and allowing institutions of higher education access to our network to connect with potential candidates.
Benefits
As a participant, you would have the opportunity to:
-
Be mentored by one or more STEM professionals who can help provide career guidance and skill development.
-
Receive access to professional development courses designed to enhance your ability to obtain a career in academia.
-
Meet and network with leading professionals in your field of interest to build career connections.
-
Meet and network with other scholars within and outside of your field of interest.
-
Be a mentor to graduate and undergraduate STEM students.
-
Provide valuable data that will help increase the number of underrepresented STEM students entering into academic careers.
There is no cost to participate in this program, as we are a Louis Stokes Regional Center of Excellence funded by the National Science Foundation.
Eligibility
We invite scholars from groups historically underrepresented in STEM (African-American/Black, American Indian or Alaska Native, Hispanic/Latinx, or Native Pacific Islander/Native Hawaiian) to sign up.
Scholars must meet the following eligibility requirements:
-
Currently pursuing bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, Ph.D., post-doctoral fellowship, or academic career in an NSF STEM field* (such as physics, chemistry, biological sciences, mathematics, computer science, engineering, or neuroscience)
-
Note: Health fields such as pre-medical and pre-dental are not eligible.
-
-
If an undergraduate or graduate student, attend an LSAMP institution (more information)
-
Students do not need to be enrolled at or otherwise connected to LSU.
-
-
Possess a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher (for current students)
-
Possess an interest in an academic career
-
Undergraduates should be interested in pursuing a STEM PhD.
-
-
U.S. Citizen or permanent resident
Onboarding Process
If you are eligible, you can become an LS-PAC MODELS Scholar by completing the onboarding form linked below and attending orientation:
-
The onboarding form includes information on LS-PAC MODELS as a research study and consent to participate in that study.
-
You’ll also provide information that will be used to create your scholar profile and to match you with a compatible mentor. If you have any questions about this form or how your information will be used, please write to us at info@lspacmodels.org.
-
Finally, you’ll sign up for an orientation session. If you are not able to attend one of the scheduled sessions, please let us know on the onboarding form and our staff will contact you to work out an alternative arrangement.