The overarching goal of our proposed IMSD Program is to increase diversity of the biomedical research workforce via increasing the number of diverse students that complete PhDs in biomedical-related science fields. For this, we propose to continue and enhance comprehensive intervention programs that have research education activities for undergraduate and graduate students. We anticipate that these carefully developed enrichment activities will increase the diversity of the life science pipeline from undergraduate through the graduate level and facilitate the successful advancement of PhD awardees to the next step of their biomedical research career. The proposed suite of undergraduate activities includes one lower division program (the Biology Undergraduate Scholars Program - BUSP) and two upper division programs [BUSP- Honors Research (BUSP-HR) and the Transfer Student Research Program (TSRP)]. The lower division program, BUSP (which will not directly fund students), aims to (a) promote student retention in biology-related undergraduate majors, and (b) kindle an interest in and an appreciation for biomedical research. The upper division programs, for 10 BUSP-HR students and five TSRP students, are designed to increase the percentage of diverse advanced undergraduates pursuing biomedical-related PhDs. We anticipate that engagement in the upper division activities will result in (a) an increase in participants' research and communication skills; (b) maintenance/enhancement of participant's interest in biology-related research careers; (c) participant awareness of biomedical-related career pathways; (d) participants graduating at a rate of 90% in a biology-related major with a GPA ? 3.0; and (e) 60% of IMSD upper division undergraduates entering PhD programs related to biomedical research within three years of receiving their Bachelor's degree. We also propose to continue our highly successful graduate student IMSD Fellows Program. We propose to select nine outstanding graduate students per year to participate in this program, which has two major objectives, the first being to increasing the number of diverse students awarded PhDs in life science disciplines. In alignment with this goal, we expect that (a) the rate of acceptance of underrepresented (UR) students into the target graduate groups will be at least at the rate for non-UR students; (b) the Fellows' oral and written communication skills will be enhanced; (c) the Fellows' interaction with other campus T32 programs will be enhanced, further expanding their interdisciplinary vistas; (d) the Fellows' competitiveness for UC Davis T32 program funding slots will be maintained/enhanced; (e) the high success rate of IMSD Fellows in advancing to candidacy will be maintained/enhanced; and (f) at least 80% of the Fellows will complete their PhD. The second major objective of the IMSD Fellows program is development of outreach/communication skills of the IMSD Fellows through structured interaction with undergraduate BUSP/BUSP-HR/TSRP students, providing relevant role models for UR undergraduates.
The overarching goal of our proposed IMSD Program is to increase diversity of the biomedical research workforce via increasing the number of diverse students that complete PhDs in biomedically-related science fields. For this, we propose to continue and enhance comprehensive intervention programs that have research education activities for undergraduate and graduate students. We anticipate that these carefully developed enrichment activities will increase the diversity of the life science pipeline from undergraduate through the graduate level and facilitate the successful advancement of PhD awardees to the next step of their biomedical research career.
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