Bronx Community College (BCC) and Lehman College (LC), which are both located in the Bronx, are part of the City University of New York (CUNY). They are minority institutions, with highly qualified science faculties, sizable science and allied health science student populations, and strong commitments to science education and undergraduate research. Both colleges have an NIH Minority Biomedical Research Support Program, and LC has a Minority Access to Research Careers Program as well. To continue their education, most BCC transfer students select LC over other CUNY 4-yr. schools. However, the number of BCC science students who transfer to LC is small, which may be due to student insecurities and a lack of confidence. In either case, a difficult transition period could interfere with a student's progress and success. The primary goal of this project is to improve and facilitate the transition of BCC science students who transfer to baccalaureate programs in Biochemistry, Biology, Chemistry or Psychology at LC. The project is aimed primarily at BCC science students and faculty, however, LC will benefit as well. The BCC science students will get a better academic preparation, additional academic support in the form of counseling and tutoring, and more undergraduate research opportunities. BCC science faculty will have a formal mechanism in place to reestablish themselves in research activities. The Bridge project will establish a Science Academy at BCC, and a formal BCC-LC transfer program in the sciences. To help assure success for the transfer program, the Bridge project will increase the BCC student's awareness of their abilities, the demands of the B.A./B.S. program, and the level of motivation needed to pursue higher education in the sciences. The transition will be eased through mentoring, research activities and science seminars at LC. This is expected to increase the number of BCC science students who transfer to LC and continue undergraduate research, clearly a benefit for LC and its faculty. Furthermore, the science transfers should be better prepared. BCC faculty will benefit from the faculty collaborations, and their increased research activities. These BCC faculty members will be expected to pursue funding for their own projects, so as to further increase the student research opportunities at the community college. The project should ultimately increase the number of minority science students who continue on to a baccalaureate program, and eventually to graduate school.
