Facilitating seamless transitions from community college to Towson University

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Summary A talented and diverse biomedical workforce is essential to ensure creativity and innovation in the biomedical field. The goal of this project is to promote growth and maintenance of a diverse biomedical workforce by increasing the number of underrepresented minority (URM) students who pursue biomedical careers. While URM students are as likely as others to begin college as STEM majors, they are less likely to graduate with a STEM degree. The attrition of students from STEM majors is acutely seen in students who begin college at two-year institutions (many of whom are URM students) than at four-year institutions. Consistent with these trends, 48% of Towson University (TU) natural science majors enrolled in introductory chemistry were found to have completed a bachelor’s degree in the natural sciences within 5 years; this percentage dropped to 41% for transfer students. This project targets the transition of URM students from Baltimore City Community College (BCCC) and the Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) to facilitate baccalaureate degree completion in the biomedical sciences at TU or other four-year institutions and to increase student competitiveness for graduate education and/or biomedical research careers. This renewal proposal builds on past success and implements new strategies to empower and motivate participating students. We aim to enhance recruitment efforts to increase program awareness and the pool of qualified applicants attracted to the program, to provide a dynamic and supportive environment for students to increase the transfer rate of students from our community college partners to TU and other four-year institutions, to provide students with the skills and capacity required for success at TU and in post-graduate training and careers, and to integrate the program with the robust pipeline of active URM training programs at TU, BCCC, CCBC and affiliated University System of Maryland schools to provide a strong minority-focused training experience. These goals will be achieved by integrating an independent research experience with strong mentoring and courses for research and professional skills development along with fostering the development of research-based curriculum at the community college partners. Building on previous success, the new initiatives proposed here include strengthening research opportunities at the community college partners to better prepare students for the research experience at TU by fostering the development of course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) modules at the community college partners, and strengthening the integration of the Bridges to the Baccalaureate program with other minority- focused programs at partner institutions and within the University System of Maryland.