: The objective of this proposal is to establish a collaborative partnership between Texas A&M University-Kingsville (TAMUK), a regional institution granting a master's degree in chemistry and biology, and the two preminent Ph.D.-granting institutions in the State of Texas, namely Texas A&M University, College Station (A&M) and the University of Texas at Austin (UT) on the purpose the Texas Bridges to the Doctorate will provide for expanding educational and career opportunities for under-represented minority students (Bridging students) in biomedically relevant chemistry or biochemistry fields. Transition from a comprehensive Hispanic Serving Institution, TAMUK, into the Ph.D. programs in chemistry and biochemistry of the two preminent Texas institutions (A&M and UT) via the bridge collaborative program. This objective will be met by; 1) establishing an efficient strategy for attracting minority students to the MS program in chemistry and biochemistry at TAMUK; 2) providing financial support for the Bridging students and/or identifying resources and the skills to access these resources; 3) establishing academic support initiatives, including tutorial, mentoring, advising, and modeling activities; 4) presenting seminars by the faculty of A&M and UT at TAMUK; 5) creating opportunities for the TAMUK students to perform joint research via summer internship appointments through Pfizer internships, NSF-REU programs, etc., and present their results at specific conferences; 6) transmitting (e.g. the Barton, Abbott or Scott lectures or relevant Frontiers lectures to TAMUK from the Ph.D. institutions via the Trans Texas Video Conferencing Network and; 7) tracking students' progress via E-STAR and making programmatic adjustments when necessary to continue to meet the goals of the Bridges program. This program will be instrumental in enabling the under-represented minority students to successfully complete the MS curriculum at TAMUK, enter the Ph.D. programs and earn the Ph.D. degree in a biomedically relevant chemistry or biochemistry fields. We anticipate that over the three year time period eight students will be in the Ph.D. program and six additional students will be in the masters program.
