This grant supports an emerging partnership between three public higher education institutions in Maryland: University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) and Bowie State University (BSU)—both Historically Black Universities—and the University of Maryland College Park (UMCP). This partnership seeks to identify obstacles deterring underrepresented Black, Indigenous, and Latina/o students from pursuing STEM graduate degrees, understand institutional biases that limit these students’ entry and degree completion, and develop a pathway for successful STEM graduate education.  Grant funds will allow the team to deploy surveys, conduct focus groups, and hold in-depth interviews of Black, Indigenous, and Latina/o students and alumni at all three institutions to explore and understand the root causes of barriers; identify 3-5 STEM UMCP departments/subfields in which to pilot the pathway; collect and analyze data to re-examine graduate admissions policies and requirements at UMCP; deploy surveys and interviews with faculty to assess perception of UMCP’s graduate STEM climate; deploy surveys and interviews with academic leadership at UMCP; create a memorandum of understanding to lay the foundation of institutional collaborations; and generate a report of findings to present to university leadership and administration.