This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. Primary support for the subproject and the subproject's principal investigator may have been provided by other sources, including other NIH sources. The Total Cost listed for the subproject likely represents the estimated amount of Center infrastructure utilized by the subproject, not direct funding provided by the NCRR grant to the subproject or subproject staff. A four-year, $1.5 million HHMI grant, acquired by the College of Charleston directly as an outcome of SC INBRE support, provides funds to develop new courses in computational biology, neuroscience, and chemical biology, to hire new faculty members, and to provide research support to undergraduate students. By coupling HHMI support with SC INBRE's, the College will provide research support for five faculty members to mentor undergraduate students both from the HHMI and SC INBRE programs. The objective is to further increase the number of students who take advantage of research training opportunities in biomedical science, and in particular to do so with minority students. The College will hire two new faculty members, one to augment the new Neurobiology program established in great part with prior SC INBRE support, and the other in Biochemistry. In addition, SC INBRE will support Dr. Anastasia Zimmermann, currently in the Biology Department, as an initial Target Faculty. Prior SC INBRE Target faculty at the College will serve as local mentors to Dr. Zimmerman. Outreach to High Schools for Minority Student Recruitment The College of Charleston will establish links with local high schools to extend the """"""""pipeline"""""""" to the K-12 arena. The HHMI grant will enable the College to extend its outreach efforts to nearby predominantly African-American Burke High School. INBRE support will be used to reach out to St. Johns High School, another predominantly African American school that is about thirty minutes away, and also to explore opportunities with other high schools that are more evenly racially mixed (e.g., James Island, Timberland, Wando, and West Ashley High Schools). Outreach efforts will be channeled through the College's Upward Bound Program, a pre-collegiate program designed to generate the skills and motivation necessary for success in education beyond high school, providing academic and cultural opportunities for selected high school freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors from target high schools in the Tri-county area. These students, primarily minority students, have parents that have never completed a four year college degree;a family income that qualifies the student for free or reduced lunch;and have demonstrated the academic potential needed to be successful. Students will attend presentations from our INBRE faculty and shadow our undergraduates in the conduction of their research projects, with opportunities for participating in all aspects of the research, from planning to execution of the experiments, literature searches, and reports. Student Recruitment and Retention The College's First Year Experience learning communities, where a cohort of students are enrolled in a set of paired courses, features two pre-Med sections where students are enrolled in both freshman biology and freshman chemistry. This will enable us to educate freshman as soon as they walk in the door about the biomedical research opportunities at the College and in particular to target minority students. INBRE faculty will make presentations to these classes and will make direct contact with minority students. Recruitment of minority students into scientific training and careers is important, but so is retention. The College will continue to be an active participant in the South Carolina Alliance for Minority Participation (SCAMP) program which increases the chances of success for minority students by providing special opportunities such as a summer bridge program for incoming students, special academic year programs to sharpen study skills, an incentive rewards program in the form of additional scholarships or stipends, and appropriate social activities. SC INBRE faculty members have been making presentations at a SCAMP meeting each fall to discuss research opportunities. This interaction has already resulted in the placement of several interested students into research labs. We plan to annually invite one or more minority speakers, including our alumni, to give seminars at the College, to provide role models for our minority students.
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