DEVELOP, the Delaware- Vermont Linkage to Open the Pipeline, will formalize an emerging partnership between two institutions. Delaware State College, an historically black land- grant institution, offers the M.S. in biology, chemistry, and physics, and has no doctoral programs. The University of Vermont offers the Ph.D. in 10 different biomedically-related programs. DEVELOP funds will be used to augment opportunities for master's students at Delaware State College (DSC) by providing local resources necessary for full-time graduate education and by taking advantage of well-established research infrastructure at the University of Vermont (UVM). The investigator(s) propose a four-month Planning Phase, within which as Implementation Committee that includes faculty from both campuses will meet regularly to 1) finalize the programmatic details; 2) recruit four individuals to the M.S. programs at DSC for DEVELOP; and 3) draft a partnership agreement for the Presidents of both institutions to sign. A 16-month Project Phase will follow, during which time DEVELOP students will take courses and initiate research at DSC; visit UVM to become acquainted with its faculty and research capabilities; perhaps spend extended periods at UVM on research internships; and attend professional conferences. To support the DEVELOP students throughout their training, they will form a Mentoring Network. The network will link faculty and master's students from DSC, with faculty and doctoral students at UVM. They will evaluate the success of DEVELOP in progress and at its terminus to ascertain whether it has realized its goals of 1) providing high-quality training for master's students at DSC; 2) influencing those students to consider further doctoral-level training, perhaps at UVM; and 3) fortifying the emerging partnership between the two institutions.
