This proposal is a competing continuation application for an existing Bridges to the Baccalaureate Degree (BS) Program (Opportunity number PAR-17-210) at the New Mexico State University (NMSU), Las Cruces. The program proposes to serve American Indian (AI) students at three community colleges. These institutions enroll 4,161 AI students (data from year 2016) from the Din (Navajo) Nation, the Jicarilla Apache Nation, and eight Pueblos in New Mexico. The community colleges include one true tribal community college, Din College at Shiprock, NM, and two state-supported community colleges: the University of New Mexico Gallup Branch at Gallup, and San Juan College in Farmington, NM. Funding for 5 years is requested for programmatic activities that attract, enrich, enhance preparedness, and advance AI students into baccalaureate degree programs aligned with the biomedical sciences. The annual goals of this application are: (i) A series of recruitment/informational workshops will be organized and conducted at the community colleges by the resident community college partner PIs. This will introduce >120 AI science majors to research career opportunities in biomedicine and biomedical-related research at NMSU. (ii) From the student pool in goal (i), approximately 12-15 pre-admitted AI students will visit the NMSU campus each spring for a one-two day orientation program to prepare for forthcoming summer research experiences. (iii) From the student pool of goal (ii), 12 AI students will conduct fulltime research with a faculty mentor and participate in many structured enrichment workshops during nine summer weeks at the campus of NMSU. Workshops will include: enhancement of computer skills for conducting research and preparing a scientific poster; discussions of ethical conduct of research; comprehensive laboratory safety training; development of scientific writing and presentation skills; academic transfer advisement; and, financial planning for completion of the B.S. degree; (iv) NMSU research-intensive faculty will serve as summer research mentors and as academic advisors after students transfer to a BS program at NMSU. (v) This application proposes to transfer 75% of its summer research participants to BS institutions and to graduate 70% of the transferees with a BS degree. (vi) An enhanced transfer support structure will be provided to Bridges program participant transfers through mandatory enrollment in a one-credit weekly meeting/seminar course for monitoring academic progress, and through an assertively administered peer-counseling program. This Bridge Program has advanced 67% (230 out of 344 total participants from 1992 to 2017) of its summer research participants into baccalaureate degree programs. Of these transferred AI students 97 have completed baccalaureate degrees.
The purpose of this project is to increase the numbers of American Indian students from community colleges who pursue baccalaureate and graduate degrees in the biomedical and behavioral sciences. This group is under-represented at all levels in these disciplines and is disproportionately affected by health disparities. The project plan promotes inter-institutional partnerships among New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, NM, and three regional community colleges: Dine? College, Shiprock, the University of New Mexico at Gallup, and the San Juan College in Farmington. Dine? College, Shiprock is a fully tribally-owned, and operated institution, while the University of New Mexico at Gallup and San Juan College are state supported community colleges. The overall programmatic goal is to apply well-integrated developmental activities based on student research internships that will increase student preparation and skills to successfully pursue the baccalaureate and graduate degrees in biomedical and behavioral sciences.
