Increasing Student Success in Biology & Biotechnology

该项目每年为有学术天赋的低收入生物和生物技术专业学生提供12个全额奖学金，为期四年，并为奖学金获得者提供教师指导的研究经历、辅导、实习和实地考察。该项目的目标是提高保留率和毕业率，包括通过为目前的非全日制学生提供攻读全日制课程的途径来加速学位的完成。该项目的智力价值在于培养更多合格的生物学家和生物技术专家，并帮助渴望成功的学生克服学业上的劣势。该项目由一名项目总监和一名在教学、促进和监督学生研究方面拥有超过50年经验的总导师领导。其更广泛的影响是增加训练有素的生物学和生物技术技术人员的供应，以满足新泽西州（这是世界上最大的制药、化学和其他生物技术工业的集中地之一）、该地区和全国对他们日益增长的需求；并增加目前在这些领域中代表性不足的群体成员获得学士学位的人数。近年来，我们的生物和生物技术专业65%是女性，19%是西班牙裔，17%是非裔美国人。这个项目的成功是通过它对缩小这些学生的保留率和毕业率与过去五年生物和生物技术专业的总体比率之间的差距的影响来衡量的。项目成果通过在国家和区域会议上的演讲和报告传播，个别学生的成功通过大学出版物和向区域媒体发布的新闻稿进行宣传。

This project provides 12 full scholarships each year over four years to academically talented, low-income Biology and Biotechnology majors, and supports faculty-guided research experiences, tutoring, internships and field trips to industry settings for the scholarship recipients. The project goal is to increase retention and graduation rates, including accelerating degree completion by providing the means for current part-time students to pursue full-time study. The intellectual merit of the project is the preparation of an increased number of well-qualified biologists and biotechnologists, and helping students with the desire to succeed overcome academic disadvantages. The project is led by a Project Director and a Head Mentor with over 50 years of combined experience in teaching, promoting and supervising student research. Its broader impacts are increasing the supply of trained Biology and Biotechnology technicians to meet the growing demand for them in New Jersey (which is home to one of the largest concentrations of pharmaceutical, chemical and other biotechnology-based industries in the world), the region and the nation; and increasing the number of individuals who are members of groups currently underrepresented in these fields earning B.S. degrees. In recent years, 65% of our Biology and Biotechnology majors have been women, 19% have been Hispanic and 17% have been African-American. The success of the project is measured by its impact on closing gaps in the retention and graduation rates for these students compared to the overall rates for our Biology and Biotechnology majors over the past five years. Project results are disseminated through presentations and reports at national and regional meetings, with individual student successes publicized through University publications and press releases to regional media outlets.