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The State of California has accepted $5 million in funding for the Cal-Bridge program, which supplies a pathway for underrepresented college students in California Community Colleges and the California State University (CSU) system to pursue superior PhD levels via the University of California system and be a part of the California science and technology workforce, together with as public college school.
The Cal-Bridge program, launched in 2014, is a statewide partnership between 9 UC, 23 CSU, and 116 group faculties throughout California supporting CSU college students majoring in physics, laptop science, and arithmetic to matriculate into PhD applications throughout the state and nation. The new California state funds allocation will allow Cal-Bridge to develop the topic areas lined and prolong its impression, supporting Cal-Bridge students all the way in which from their CSU undergraduate research via their UC PhDs.
“The new state funding will provide more young Californians from historically underrepresented communities with the opportunity to pursue a doctorate degree and access the support needed to successfully complete the degree and thrive in their chosen professions,” stated Lori Kletzer, Campus Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor at UC Santa Cruz.
Bruce Schumm, a professor of physics at UC Santa Cruz who co-leads the Northern California Cal-Bridge program, stated plans for the growth embody growing a complete program of assist and skilled growth via the years of graduate examine. “This generous funding from the state will allow us to complete a unique, end-to-end pathway that can support students from our diverse community college and CSU campuses from the earliest steps of their college education through their entrance into careers in academia and industry,” he stated.
The expanded program will construct a pathway for hundreds of California college students from various backgrounds to obtain the experience wanted to fill college school and technology management positions in California and past.
“Diversifying the professoriate will lead to a growth in gender, racial, and ethnic representation in the technology workforce more broadly by increasing the number of students from historically underrepresented groups completing degrees in STEM fields because they see faculty that look like them,” stated Cal-Bridge Executive Director Alexander Rudolph, professor of physics and astronomy at Cal Poly Pomona. “As countries around the world are increasing their investment in science and technology, making sure our nation uses all of the available talent in developing our expertise and capabilities in these fields is an issue of economic and national security.”
“I’m so proud to have secured $5 million in the California State budget for the Cal-Bridge program to diversify the State’s science and technology workforce,” stated Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris (D-Irvine), who was the chief sponsor of the trouble to win funding for the initiative in the state funds. “Breaking down barriers to entry into STEM fields for historically underrepresented groups and diversifying California’s public university professoriate will help California continue to thrive as a world-class hub for innovation.”
UCSC graduate scholar Rene Padilla is a Cal-Bridge scholar who credit this system with clearing his pathway to a Ph.D. Padilla began his education at Modesto Junior College, happening to obtain his B.S. diploma in physics from Stanislaus State in 2019.
“Making the transition from a community college to a CSU campus was challenging,” stated Padilla. “However, doing the transition from a CSU to a PhD was even harder and more complex. Nevertheless, the Cal-Bridge community gave me the necessary tools to successfully make the transition and move forward towards my dream school. Now, after several years, I am a candidate for a PhD in physics at UC Santa Cruz. I never imagined that I could make it that far, but having the support from a program like Cal-Bridge made a big difference in my life. I am sure that increasing the resources of the Cal-Bridge program will increase the chances of students like me to get into high-level education programs.”
Phil Ting (D-San Francisco), Chair of the Assembly Budget Committee and Nancy Skinner (D-East Bay), Chair of the Senate Budget Committee collectively helped shepherd the appropriation into the state funds and are each excited to assist the Cal-Bridge Initiative. Ting commented, “Cal-Bridge is a uniquely Californian treasure, ensuring fair and equal access to all the opportunities offered by our state’s outstanding higher education system. Cal-Bridge opens doors for all in our state to the most exciting and well-paid careers in science and technology, regardless of where they start their education. I’m excited to support Cal-Bridge, to see it funded in this year’s budget and look forward to watching it grow to benefit thousands of Californians over the coming years.”
Skinner added, “California has made progress in diversifying our public colleges and universities, but there is still much work to do. Black and Latinx students, in particular, remain underrepresented at our CSU and UC campuses. The Cal-Bridge program is essential to closing this racial gap, which is why I’m proud the Legislature and Governor have agreed to fund it in this year’s state budget. Cal-Bridge not only is effective at attracting underrepresented students to STEM fields, but also in ensuring that our cohort of future college professors in physics, computer science, and mathematics is diverse as well.”
For extra info, go to www.calbridge.org.
About Cal-Bridge: The Cal-Bridge program has the mission to create a complete, end-to-end pathway for undergraduates from the various scholar inhabitants of the CSU system via graduate college to a PhD, postdoctoral fellowship, and finally membership in the professoriate and science and technology workforce. Students in this system are referred to as Cal-Bridge students.
The program is a partnership between 9 University of California (UC), all 23 California State University (CSU), and the 116 group faculty campuses in California, thus fulfilling the promise of cross-segmental cooperation envisioned in the California Master Plan for Higher Education. Scholars are recruited from CSU and group faculty campuses throughout the state, with the assistance of native school and/or employees liaisons at every campus. Community faculty college students switch to a collaborating CSU to be a part of this system.
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