San Jose State University RISE Program The overall goal of the San Jose State University RISE Program is to provide research opportunities to fifteen undergraduate students from backgrounds that are underrepresented in biomedical fields so as to encourage and prepare them for biomedical graduate programs and biomedical research careers. We expect students to be research active for at least two years. It is expected that, at a minimum, 95% of the students will graduate with BA/BS degrees in STEM and 65% will continue to a graduate program, with 50% continuing to a PhD or MD/PhD degree program within three years of graduation. Program participants will be research active with faculty and this endeavor will result in student presentations and, hopefully, co-authorship of publications. In addition to mentoring and research support, our program offers opportunities for students to improve their grade point averages through Academic Excellence Workshops that provide supplemental support to students enrolled in difficult gatekeeper courses. They will also receive training on and support for their applications to biomedical graduate programs. A seminar serves to help students stay focused and it will allow them to interact with successful scientists who can serve as role models, including former students from the program and IRACDA Scholars. Research Training Workshops will introduce students to important biomedical techniques to expand their biomedical research training. An ethics course is required to ascertain that we prepare responsible scientists. Our program aims to increase the pipeline of well-prepared students who can complete a program of study in the biomedical sciences and as such it will work in collaboration with other programs with similar goals already present at San Jose State University including NIH MARC and NSF LSAMP so as to maximize student success.
By assisting underrepresented minority students to excel in their course work and continuing towards advanced degrees in biomedical fields, the San Jose State University RISE Program develops a pool of educated biomedical scientists that better reflect the ethnic and racial background of the people in the US. An increase in the number, quality and diversity of scientists can result in more discoveries, new approaches to problems and, overall, more knowledge gained to help serve the health needs of a diverse population.
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