About Our Alliance


The Virginia–North Carolina Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation is a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded project led by the University of Virginia.  One goal of the Virginia-North Carolina Alliance is diversification of the Science, Technology, and Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) workforce. Open to all, the Alliance emphasizes increasing the number of underrepresented students earning baccalaureate degrees with an emphasis on increasing the number of underrepresented minority students in STEM disciplines and matriculating to graduate school.

The Alliance is made up of the following partner institutions: Bennett College, Elizabeth City State University, George Mason University, Johnson C. Smith University, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Old Dominion University, Piedmont Virginia Community College, Saint Augustine's University, University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, and Virginia Tech. The program offers individually tailored recruitment, retention, and enhancement activities to support students such as bridge programs, stipends, symposia, tutoring, mentoring, workshops, and research experiences.