South Texas Doctoral Bridge Program

此次续签申请源于我们成功获得博士学位的头四年资助(南区 德克萨斯州博士桥项目(STDBP；2013-2017)，支持德克萨斯大学之间的伙伴关系 圣安东尼奥德克萨斯健康科学中心(UT Health San Antonio；授予博士学位)和德克萨斯州立大学 圣马科斯大学(德克萨斯州，硕士学位授予)。STDBP的总体目标是增加 来自生物医学科学中代表性不足(UR)人群的个人数量 教育、研究培训和指导，这将使他们能够进入最好的博士项目 国家。我们的计划目标是招募和培训德克萨斯州立大学的学生，以完成以论文为基础的硕士学位。 学位，并为他们做好准备，不仅要有竞争力进入顶级生物医学博士 计划，但也是成功的，一旦他们进入这些计划。在之前的4年项目中 学期，22名硕士研究生获得了STDBP助学金的资助，并已 由一群积极进取、才华横溢的教职员工进行基础研究培训。超过70%(10/14) 在已经退出该项目的剑桥奖学金获得者中，有两人在两年内成功地进入了博士项目 注册了数年的理工科硕士课程。其中包括8名毕业于理工科硕士学位的桥牌学者 目前正在攻读博士学位(博士7人，博士1人)在杰出的研究密集型 机构包括：德克萨斯大学圣安东尼奥分校健康，杜克大学贝勒医学院，约翰霍普金斯大学 北卡罗来纳大学(UNC)教堂山分校和达特茅斯学院等 作为2名桥牌奖学金获得者，他们没有完成硕士学位，因为他们选择了，并有过渡 直接进入博士项目(分别是北卡罗来纳大学教堂山分校和爱荷华大学) 桥牌程序。所有已经结成桥梁的STDBP校友继续在他们的博士课程中表现良好，并 自入学以来，有几个人获得了基于功绩的奖励。两位桥牌学者之一 毕业于理工科硕士学位，但尚未过渡，已宣布计划在今年秋天应用于专业课程 另一个是评估职业选择。八名桥牌学者仍在接受理科硕士培训(其中5人也将 今年申请2018年秋季入学的博士项目)，有两个项目在早期被终止 不符合计划要求，而后者之一仍在TxState完成以下要求 理科硕士学位。因此，不包括那些被解雇的人，总体而言，10/12桥学者 (83%)无缝过渡到博士学习，没有任何时间流逝。在第一个周期中，STDBP 开发了一门新课程，重点是批判性思维、实验设计和分析以及负责任的行为 加强德克萨斯州立大学课程的研究。本课程现已建立并并入 化学和生物化学系所有理科硕士(桥和非桥)的核心课程。 在这些成就的基础上，我们这次STDBP更新的愿景是进一步增加UR的数量 从德克萨斯州立大学毕业并成功进入全国顶级博士课程的学生。至 为了实现这一目标，我们将使用以下组合：(I)通过开发以下内容来增强TxState课程 当代新课程“基因组学与生物信息学”和“科学严谨性与再现性”；(Ii) 创新和有针对性的发展活动，旨在帮助桥梁学者继续成为 在顶级博士项目的录取和成功方面具有竞争力；以及(Iii)学生的修养 招聘战略和学生跟踪以及导师培训。此竞争对手的续订申请 继续为5年内每年6名实习生寻求支持。

This renewal application stems from our successful first four years of a Bridge-to-the-Doctorate grant (South Texas Doctoral Bridge Program (STDBP; 2013-2017) supporting a partnership between the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio; PhD-granting) and Texas State University – San Marcos (TxState, master's granting). The overarching goal of the STDBP is to increase the number of individuals from populations underrepresented (UR) in the biomedical sciences with quality education, research training, and mentorship that will position them to enter the best doctoral programs in the nation. Our program objectives are to recruit and train UR TxState students to complete a thesis-based M.S. degree and to prepare them not only to be competitive for acceptance into top-ranked biomedical doctoral programs, but also to be successful once they matriculate into those programs. During the prior 4 year project term, 22 M.S. graduate students received financial support from the STDBP grant award and have been trained in basic research by a cadre of highly motivated and talented participating faculty. Over 70% (10/14) of the Bridge Scholars who have exited the program bridged successfully to doctoral programs within two years of enrolling in the M.S. program. These include 8 Bridge Scholars who graduated with M.S. degrees and are currently enrolled in doctoral programs (7 Ph.D. and 1 D.V.M.) at outstanding research-intensive institutions including; UT Health San Antonio, Baylor College of Medicine, Duke University, Johns Hopkins University, University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill, and Dartmouth College, amongst others as well as 2 Bridge Scholars who did not complete the master's degree because they elected to, and have transition directly to Ph.D. programs (UNC Chapel Hill and University of Iowa respectively) after their first year in the Bridge program. All STDBP alumni that have bridged continue to do well in their doctoral programs and several have since garnered merit-based awards since matriculating. One of the two Bridge Scholars who graduated with M.S. degrees but are yet to bridge, has stated plans to apply this fall to professional programs and the other is assessing career options. Eight Bridge Scholars remain in M.S. training (5 of who will also apply to Ph.D. programs this year for Fall 2018 entry) and two were terminated from the program early on for not meeting programmatic requirements with one of the latter still at TxState completing the requirements for the M.S. degree. Therefore excluding those dismissed from the program, overall, 10/12 Bridge Scholars (83%) seamlessly transitioned to doctoral studies without any time lapse. In this first cycle, the STDBP developed a new course focused on critical thinking, experimental design & analysis and responsible conduct of research to strengthen the curriculum at TxState. This course is now established and incorporated into the core curriculum for all M.S. (Bridge and non-Bridge) students in the Chemistry & Biochemistry department. Building on these accomplishments, our vision in this STDBP renewal is to further increase the number of UR students who graduate from TxState and successfully bridge to top-tier doctoral programs nationwide. To accomplish this, we will use a combination of: (i) enhancement of the TxState curriculum by development of new contemporary curriculum in “Genomics & Bioinformatics” and “Scientific Rigor & Reproducibility”; (ii) innovative and targeted developmental activities designed to prepare Bridge Scholars to continue to be competitive for admission to, and success at, top-tier doctoral programs; and (iii) refinements in student recruitment strategies and student tracking as well as mentor training. This competing renewal application seeks continued support again for 6 trainees each year for 5 years.