We see the "Pipeline" as a two-way conduit that provides UM graduate students as they finish their Ph.D.s and recent Ph.D.s classroom experience at a university with a strong commitment to a liberal arts education and that exposes GVSU undergraduates to women scientists and engineers. This effort will resonate with the larger national initiative on preparing future faculty.

Constructing a Pipeline between Grand Valley State University and the University of Michigan offers unique possibilities for both institutions. For GVSU, the Pipeline has three important components: highly trained ABDs and Ph.D.s to staff classrooms; motivated and intellectually stimulating role models for women students; and links with UM faculty for research for both faculty and students. For UM, the Pipeline provides an extraordinary opportunity for graduate students to gain teaching experience at an institution where undergraduate teaching is the first priority. For women Ph.D.s at risk of giving up on an academic career, it offers an alternative model of a primarily undergraduate institution, which might be more attractive. It also offers possibilities for shared research for faculty and students on both campuses.

We envision the following components under the collaborative pipeline: 1) a Teaching Postdoc Fellows (TPF) component (salary and fringe benefits provided by GVSU), 2) a Future Faculty Fellows (FFF) component (salary and fringe benefits provided by UM), and 3) professional development activities (research, mentoring, networking) for Teaching Postdocs and Future Faculty Fellows supported by the NSF PAID grant as well as the Pew Faculty Teaching and Learning Center. Participants for both programs will be selected through a competitive process where UM faculty recommend students and GVSU faculty make final determinations, based on departmental needs.

Teaching Postdocs Fellows will be recent Ph.D.s from UM in science or engineering who will be hired as Visiting Assistant Professors. We already have a successful model developed by GVSU's Chemistry Department for hiring postdoctoral students. Building on the "Preparing Future Faculty Program", Future Faculty Fellows be nearing the end of their graduate studies and will teach two courses. Both Teaching Postdocs Fellows and Future Faculty Fellows will (i) have access to research support from the NSF PAID professional development fund; (ii) be assigned faculty mentors (who will receive release time) and meet them routinely to discuss teaching methods and strategies, and acquaint them with tools available in the departments as well as at GVSU's Pew FTLC; and (iii) participate in all the activities of Network including presentation of the doctoral research. Equally important they will have the opportunity to work with students in undergraduate laboratory research and, because so many of GVSU's undergraduates plan careers in K-12 teaching, they will have an impact on future teachers.