The RISE Scholars Program at the University of Texas at El Paso is an interdisciplinary program involving faculty and students in the biomedical, biological, biomedical and biochemical fields. Missing from this program is a graduate component that will allow the recruitment and training of highly qualified minority graduate students. The main goal of this supplement is to increase the number of underrepresented minority graduate students who enroll in UTEP's doctoral programs in the biomedical sciences. The RISE graduate component will significantly enhance our existing graduate program by increasing the number of minority trainees, by adding valuable training workshops for all graduate students, and by lowering the years to degree. In addition, the RISE graduate trainees will receive enhanced mentorship and guidance from the PD and the RGS Advisor who will counsel them at every important juncture / checkpoint of their graduate careers and help them stay on track toward their degrees. It is our hope that this extensive counseling will reduce the time to degree and thus increase the output of minority graduates from our program. Furthermore, the RISE graduate trainees will be expected to attend and present their research at national / international conferences which will help prepare them for their next step in the academic / research careers. The availability of RGS Trainee positions will also allow us to aggressively recruit potential trainees by providing them a steady source of support. The specific measurable objectives of the RGS program are as follows: (1) Increase the number of underrepresented minority students who enroll in UTEP's biomedical science doctoral program(s) to levels comparable to our undergraduate and M.S. student population; (2) ensure that the RISE Scholar Graduate Trainees participate in all RISE Graduate Training activities and receive adequate mentoring / counseling throughout their tenure in the program; (3) ensure that 80 percent of the RISE Graduate Trainees will advance to candidacy by their third but no later than the beginning of the fourth year in the UTEP doctoral program; (4) expect that 10% of trainees will complete their Ph.D. in four years, that 60% of trainees will finish in five years, and that greater than 90% will complete their degrees by the sixth year. The primary goal of this training grant is to increase the percentage of minority Biology Ph.D. students to a level comparable to that seen in the undergraduate program. ? ?
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