Wayne State University is submitting a proposal for the Initiative for Minority Student Development (IMSD) that will serve as a continuation for our current MBRS Associates Program. This program will make innovations to our current program to address the goal of increasing minority participation in biomedical research for the 21st century. Our program will involve both an undergraduate and graduate student component. The undergraduate component will identify students at the freshman level and following identification sixteen will identify students at the freshman level and following identification sixteen students will be selected twice per year to take a course """"""""Introduction to investigative Sciences"""""""". This course is designed to sharpen the students' already developed skills in mathematics, chemistry, physics and biology. But more importantly this class is also designed to enhance students' ability to (1) use computer assisted learning techniques for introductory science courses, (2) develop and improve writing skills, (3) enhance presentation skills and (4) work in groups to achieve their academic goals. These cohort of students will be tracked by their participation in the """"""""Independent Study"""""""" class. This class is designed to maintain contact with these students and follow their progress and development. Select numbers of these students will be placed in the IMSD supported research or other supported research programs. Mentors will direct research experiences that are designed to enhance their scientific development. The design will give us the opportunity to impact a large pool of minority students (32/year) and guide the most serious into research positions. The graduate students will be recruited to the university by our program or individual departments. Once identified these students will be guided toward the very best mentors and academic areas that are consistent with their career goals. In addition, these graduate students will spend time working with and tutoring undergraduate students in both the """"""""Introduction to Investigative Sciences"""""""" class and the """"""""Independent Study"""""""" course. Working in the individual departments with their mentors plus working with the undergraduate students, these graduate students will have the opportunity to develop teaching and presentation skills. This interaction with other graduate and undergraduate students will establish a continuum of development, and esprit de corps of all the IMSD students at Wayne State University. Methods for tracking students and program evaluation are being implemented so that we can meet our defined goals.
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