Montgomery College, the oldest and largest community college in Maryland established the Biomedical Scholars Program in 2001 with funding from the National Institutes of Health under its Bridges to the Baccalaureate initiative. This innovative program is designed to successfully prepare students from populations who are under-represented in the biomedical science research arena for successful transfer to partnering four-year institutions as natural science majors. The program fosters increased academic performance and persistence in science courses by creating a seamless pipeline from high school to community college to the four year institution. Each year fifteen academically talented recent high school graduates, who have expressed an interest in obtaining a baccalaureate degree in the sciences, are accepted into the program. The program commences with an intensive six week Pre-matriculation Summer Bridge program that smoothes the transition from high school to college, by creating a learning community of students, faculty and staff. The academic component of the summer bridge involves a program of math readiness in preparation for calculus, allows for English remediation for non-native speakers of English, and a chemistry tutorial. Additionally, an interdisciplinary writing and technology program familiarizes students with the norms for college-level writing. The summer bridge also has a non-academic component that focuses on """"""""transition to college"""""""" issues that affect overall academic success. During the first academic year, students receive mentoring, personalized academic advising, ongoing tutorial support and enrichment activities in the form of guest speakers from the college and from faculty from the partnering four year institutions. At the end of the first academic year students are placed in research internships at partnering institutions or at area biotechnology firms. The second year academic program consists of continued mentoring, advising and academic support, seminar attendance and preparation for transfer to four-year institutions as science majors. Public Law 106-525 recognizes a national need for increasing the number of well trained minority scientists to meet the health needs of an increasingly diverse population and to eliminate health disparities. This proposal is designed to capture the interest of students from populations that are underrepresented in the basic and biomedical sciences very early in their academic careers. The program provides an academically enriched environment, exposure to research careers and a seamless transition to baccalaureate degree granting institutions.
