The ROMP began in 1994. The ROMP Program at Massachusetts Bay Community College (MBCC) is a very rigorous 12-month (minimal) to 24 month (maximum) research training program. The purpose of the ROMP is to confer on its participants an overwhelming competitive advantage that will ensure their completion of the terminal degree in the basic sciences with distinction. The ROMP is tightly linked to the associate degree programs in Biotechnology at MBCC: Biotechnology, Marine Biotechnology and Forensic DNA Science. ROMP participants must therefore be enrolled as full-time students in one of the Biotechnology Programs.
ROMP students undertake summer research projects at collaborative institutions worldwide, which are advanced in the ensuing academic year in the BT Program at MBCC. The Biotechnology Program's research laboratories at MBCC are a multi-million dollar facility and are considered the most sophisticated undergraduate research facilities in the United States. During the academic year students develop their independent research prowess through their collaborative projects, are required to give multiple research presentations and must generate at least one publishable abstract per year. Research opportunities in the ROMP are extensive and include molecular biology, marine biology, environmental science, and forensic DNA analysis of human, animal and plant genomes and DNA-based anthropological studies. Examples of ROMP research projects include: studies in the changes in gene expression in human cells; volcano-induced fish speciation on the Caribbean island of Montserrat; and tracing African-American roots using DNA analysis. The African-American "Roots Project" was begun in 2000 and has bought ROMP students international attention. Faculty- and peer mentoring are key components of the ROMP. Second year ROMP students must mentor first year participants to a high degree of scientific proficiency. In addition ROMP students are required to mentor primary school children of Boston during the course of the academic year. We expect that ROMP participants will instill a passion for science in young minority students during the critical formative years of primary school.
A number of ROMP students are now enrolled in basic science doctoral programs nationwide. We anticipate that the ROMP will discernibly increase the number of active, nontraditional people in the American scientific community.
