Hunter College proposes to continue the traditions and goals of its 15 year old MBRS Program which has had approximately 90% of its graduates (93 out of 104 students) enter/graduate from doctoral programs in science (approximately one-half with medical degrees). The program provides biomedical science research experience primarily for minority undergraduate and graduate students.
Its aim i s to foster the entrance of underrepresented minorities in science into biomedical research careers. Through this process the program also supports research of the faculty. At both the undergraduate and graduate levels, the program will achieve its goals through an intensive research experience in a lab engaged in nationally funded, competitive, state of the art biomedical research. At the undergraduate level it also involves intensive mentoring by a faculty member and other enrichment activities intended to enhance scientific performance and to inspire and motivate students. In addition, the program will sponsor yearly special events to encourage underrepresented minority students at Hunter, in the CUNY system and in the tri-state area to enter biomedical research. A procedure for tracking Hunter MBRS students and other science students while at the college and upon graduation will be established and networked with pertinent NIH-MORE databases. Finally, an evaluation program will be implemented so that pertinent quantitative data and the achievements of MBRS students and other minority and majority students at Hunter College can be evaluated. Faculty mentors will also be evaluated to identify those qualities of faculty most associated with success (or failure) of students. Finally, recruitment methods of the program will also be evaluated to determine those which have a high return rate and attract high quality students.
