Enrichment Component: Two goals of Virginia State University are (1) to prepare students for career opportunities in today's society and to ensure that they can be productive; and (2) to encourage faculty to become more active in research, especially funded research. This research participation of faculty will enable them to provide meaningful research opportunities for students; enable them to keep abreast of the latest skills, techniques and subjects which will help them become better teachers.
The aim of the enrichment component of this project is to provide students with experiences which will give them a better understanding of biomedical careers and to improve the ability of the faculty to prepare these students. The enrichment component has been divided into three segments: (1) seminars, (2) workshops and (3) off-campus research experiences for faculty and students. The seminar program has been designed to bring a variety of active biomedical researchers to the Virginia State University campus where they will present seminars on their research or on novel research methods and techniques. Faculty and student participation in on-campus and off-campus workshops will provide in-depth information, experience or training in areas of current biomedical interest. The off- campus research segment involves sending one faculty person and two students, during each summer, to appropriate research laboratories where they will participate as researchers and gain knowledge and experience. Faculty and student participation in the enrichment component should result in the following improvements in Virginia State University's science programs: (1) science faculty and students should become aware of the many active areas of biomedical research faculty and students should become aware of the many active areas of biomedical research and the techniques employed by researchers to solve research problems; (2) members of the faculty will be able to teach the latest techniques and will be able to prepare research proposals of better quality; (3) selected students will receive valuable experience and training in biomedical research procedures; and (4) students will be made aware of the wide variety of career opportunities in biomedical research.
