GT-EQUAL Providing Bridge for Underrepresented Students to Pursue Graduate Studies

When Alexa Dobbs faced periodic challenges during her first year of graduate studies at ChBE, she was grateful for plenty of support from faculty and fellow students through the GT EQUAL (Graduate Training for Equality in Underrepresented Academic Leadership) program.

“I’ve really appreciated the support system,” says Alexa Dobbs, now a second-year grad student. She received tutoring when she needed it as well as professional development support from professors and the mentorship of another graduate student who was paired with her. “They’ve been really helpful in navigating issues.”

GT-EQUAL is one of two sites at Georgia Tech for the American Chemical Society’s (ACS) Bridge Program, which aims to increase the number of PhDs in the chemical sciences that are awarded to Black, Hispanic, and Native American students.

GT-EQUAL enrolls two Bridge Fellows annually who will earn a thesis MS in chemical engineering while receiving full funding, extensive support, mentoring, and training to prepare for success in a PhD program.

First Cohort

Alexa Dobbs

Dobbs, who aims to go into industry after completing her PhD, was one of the two Fellows in the inaugural year (2019-2020) of GT-EQUAL, along with Thomas Pho. She first heard about the Bridge Program through a professor who mentored her during her undergraduate studies as a chemistry major at Fort Lewis College in Colorado.

“She knew I was Native American. We’re from the same tribe and had been in touch throughout the years. In my senior year, she urged me to explore Bridge programs as she believed it would be a good fit for me.”

Thomas Pho

Second Cohort

Fidel Amezcua

Sydney Wimberly

Fidel Amezcua, who started as a Bridge Fellow in fall 2020 (along with Sydney Wimberly), says he is grateful that GT-EQUAL admitted him as a nontraditional student.

Now 35 years old, Amezcua droppedout of high school and obtained his GED four years later. He attended Cuyumaca College in San Diego, California, on and off for years while working jobs in construction, maintenance, fast food, and retail.

Looking to startover, he moved to Chicago and decided to apply to Chicago State University, which his brother had attended as a veteran. With scholarship support, Amezcua completed his BS in chemistry there in 2018.

He came to Atlanta in fall 2019 to work as an engineering laboratory technician for KEMRON Environmental Services. The move here was partly motivated by his desire to be close to Georgia Tech and other universities where he could potentially pursue graduate studies in order to advance his career in industry.

When he learned about the Bridge Program through an ACS e-mail he received as a society member, he knew there was a possibility he could join Tech.

Students like Amezcua and other Bridge fellow need to be better represented in graduate programs across the country, according to Bridge Program leaders.

In 2016, about 12 percent of 10,000 BS degrees in chemical engineering went to students from underrepresented groups. Only a fraction of these students entered a PhD program in the chemical sciences.

According to statistics from the National Science Foundation, 5 percent of doctoral degrees in chemical engineering awarded in 2018 (44 out of 981) went to students from