The key goal of this application is to increase the numbers of underrepresented students in biomedical and behavioral research by broadening the opportunities to earn Ph.D. degrees and to increase their participation in academic, research, administrative and leadership positions in our country. Northwestern University, an institution with a significant number of mentors with extramural research support, will attract, retain, prepare and facilitate the transition of undergraduate and graduate students of diverse scientific and socio-economic backgrounds into postdoctoral positions in life and biomedical science. We will develop a program to increase the number of graduate students in these areas of science who have the motivation and credentials to succeed, but who lack some of the scientific preparation needed to successfully complete one of the graduate programs at Northwestern University (NUIN, IGP, IBiS, BME, CBE). The strength of the program will be to design an individualized curriculum for each student during the first year in graduate school to overcome academic deficiencies and to allow for successful completion of the specific graduate program core courses during the second year. Course work will be complemented with a scientific skills course, research communication skills workshops, extended research rotations, and faculty and peer-facilitated tutoring and mentoring. Special emphasis will be placed on developing hypothesis-driven research proposals and on writing and presentation skills by attending specialized courses and working with research and communication mentors. This will maximize the opportunities for successful completion of the Ph.D. degree and will increase student competitiveness for external fellowships or appointment to existing training grants (T32). Finally, we will prepare students to transition into competitive postdoctoral research positions and to successfully participate in leadership positions beyond graduation. These goals will be accomplished by requiring students to present their research at local and national meetings, by becoming members of and participating in the activities of scientific societies and by timely publication of scientific findings. We anticipate that the success of the program will be measured by the quality of peer-reviewed publications and presentations at scientific meetings, research and fellowship awards, and successful transition to postdoctoral research and leadership research positions in academia and industry in life and biomedical science areas.
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