The Wayne State University (WSU) IMSD program is requesting continued support for its successful graduate and undergraduate programs at the current level of 20 undergraduate and 8 graduate students. The goal of the WSU program is to provide both graduate and undergraduate students a structured community along with career building and research opportunities that will enable each student to learn and develop the necessary skills for a successful career in biomedical sciences. Graduate students will be selected in their first or second year of graduate study. The graduate component will continue to focus on enhancing career development skills as well as their skills in mentoring and teaching. Each IMSD graduate student along with their faculty mentor is expected to create a Career Development Plan (IDP). It is the expectation that the structured program with clear expectations and goals will increase success as reflected by increased graduation rates and time to degree. The engaged graduate students gain skills in presenting their research findings to the IMSD community and leading to effective presentation skills as well as developing teaching methodology. The undergraduate component of our IMSD program will continue to concentrate on students in their first and second years. Our premise is that effective exposure to mentoring and research at the undergraduate level requires an early individualized approach. The undergraduate program will continue its three basic integrated components: (1) academic enhancement; (2) mentored undergraduate student research; and (3) career development. The academic enhancement component is designed to facilitate freshman IMSD students in their ability to have an excellent academic beginning by focusing on mathematics competency and by personalizing the core science lectures and laboratories. The IMSD learning community provides the socially supportive environment that bends the cultural trajectory of underrepresented minority students toward academic careers in scientific research. Their college experience will be further enhanced by their participation in peer to peer mentoring and mentored research beginning in their first year will continue year round and be integrated into the entire undergraduate experience. Following two years of active support all previously supported IMSD students are expected to continue in the IMSD Learning community until graduation. The faculty research mentors are selected from a wide array of faculty with active research programs. These academic and research experiences along with professional development activities should lead to enhanced interest in careers in academic and scientific research.
The Wayne State University IMSD Program is designed to increase the number of students from underrepresented groups to pursue advanced degrees in biomedical fields and thus alleviate the problem of severe shortage of underrepresented scientist at the national level.
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