The purpose of the program is to increase the number of minority students who enter biomedical/behavior research and health professions. This grant proposes to achieve this purpose by providing a research experience as part of a linkage for students in a pipeline from high school, through college, to health professional school and to provide a similar research experience for teachers who teach science to a large population of minority students. Students will be provided a hands-on laboratory experience and the opportunity to establish a mentoring relationship with an experienced researcher. Students will be called research apprentices and will be assigned one-on-one to a medical school faculty member currently involved in biomedical research. Each student will learn and practice modern laboratory techniques as they study new research concepts and ideas. A long term mentoring relationship will be fostered as students and mentors will be encouraged to continue their communication throughout the students' college career and will get together annually at the research site for presentations at Graduate Student Research Day. The teacher component will place in-service teachers with senior biomedical' researchers and provide the opportunity for teachers to learn new research and laboratory techniques that they can use in their classrooms to increase the knowledge and inspire many students with whom they come in contact. Arrangements will be made for teachers to share their experiences with other teachers through the Boards of Education in the area. The summer experience will also provide the opportunity for students and teachers to become knowledgeable and interested in net methodologies, findings, and ethical issues in health and health research. Discussions at brown bag lunches and evening forums will provide the mechanism for this opportunity. Although students are not in the immediate geographical area, some mentoring activities for students and teachers are planned during the academic year. The program will remain in contact with the participants through extensive follow-up.
