9555734 Frierson The Valencia BRIDGES program (Building and Replicating an Innovative Demonstration Model to Facilitate Gender Equity in Science) will focus on activities that increase students, faculty, and counselors understanding of the relationships between gender and the study of science. The project will increase the academic, retention, and completion success rates of female community college students enrolled in science courses, develop a new instructional approach to better prepare females for upper division study and careers involving scientific research, and increase the percentage of female students enrolled in science courses by helping female students make informed career choices and better course selection decisions. Curricular changes include a new lower division research methods course, enriched lower division biological and physical science courses with strategies and content that are free of gender bias, mentoring opportunities for students, hands-on internships in research laboratories at the University of Florida, scientific and equity workshops targeted at the female student population, new recruitment and promotion materials to targeted students, and specialized counseling and mentoring interactions which focus on personal, transfer, career, and financial aid issues. Community college students are less likely to have research and mentoring experiences that lead to research-based scientific careers. This project will reform lower level science courses to be more accessible for all students and will partner with the state land grant institution to prepare community college students for university-level science courses. Mentorships will act as an informal network to increase student success. ***
