San Diego State University (SDSU) proposes to establish a Career Opportunities in Research (COR) Honors Undergraduate program intended to increase the number of highly qualified minority students engaged in mental health-related fields. A large number of highly qualified students are enrolled at SDSU in undergraduate programs that lead to degrees in mental health-related disciplines. SDSU faculty and administrators have developed an educational program that successfully prepares students for graduate programs, and now propose a set of co-curricular activities and research experiences focused on preparing under-represented students for entry into and successful completion of Ph.D. programs in mental health fields. Our strategies for developing these students include close mentoring, building a cohesive student group, a high level academic experience, and frequent contact with faculty at this and other institutions. Specific components of the program include: 1) an intense summer indoctrination into research before the Junior year; 2) a two-year high quality academic program including special colloquia on mental health research issues; 3) a special advanced statistics course for COR students only; 4) special workshops on the GRE and techniques for applying to graduate schools; 5) continuous intense academic year and summer research experiences at SDSU; and 6) an intense summer extramural research experience at an outstanding research university. SDSU has developed a strong partnership with the University of California (UC), San Diego in training students in research. Through the proposed program, COR students will have outstanding opportunities for extramural research experiences.
