Minority Bridges Program

描述（由申请人提供）：这是七所大学，巴里，克拉克亚特兰大，FA&M，菲斯克，田纳西州，塔斯基吉，波多黎各马亚圭斯和范德比尔特大学之间的MS到博士桥梁计划的竞争性更新。这些机构已经加入我们的倡议，以增加代表性不足的少数民族进入生物医学研究的职业生涯的数量。我们的目标是提高少数民族的竞争力，并促进他们向生物医学研究的过渡。尽管有几所学校提供非常具体的博士学位，但没有一所学校拥有申请机构范德比尔特提供的广泛平台。在为期三年的奖项中，有两年我们已经推出了我们认为是一个独特的成功计划，取得了切实的成功。每个合作机构都有一个经验丰富的计划协调员，这七个加上四个范德比尔特教师组成的桥梁监督委员会（BOC），作为一个群体选择学生的程序，并作出所有的政策决定。事实证明，共同治理是我们取得成就的一个关键因素。BOC为整个项目选择MS学生，并选举那些将在范德比尔特录取的学生。因此，没有固定的名额/机构数目，在所有伙伴的充分参与下，根据成绩和业绩进行选择。新的提案重新计算了我们所取得的进展，并描述了我们为促进和加强范德比尔特及其合作伙伴之间的关系而建立的新的合作安排。我们已经实施的原始提案的创新功能是桥梁日，桥梁通讯和准备博士（PPhD），这些已经开始显示出切实的成果。PPhD是提供给桥梁学生的夏天之前，他们进入范德比尔特以及其他学生谁可能需要这种教学和文学为基础的介绍，他们的第一年。今年，有两名学生在范德比尔特做他们的硕士论文工作，我们已经在范德比尔特和合作机构之间进行了丰富的教师交流。我们提出的预算包括管理和协调该计划的费用，它包括计划主任，赠款管理员和计划协调员参加年度桥梁计划主任会议的资金。

DESCRIPTION (provided by the applicant): This is a competitive renewal for an MS to PhD Bridges Program between seven universities, Barry, Clark Atlanta, FA&M, Fisk, Tennessee State, Tuskegee, Puerto Rico at Mayaguez and Vanderbilt University. These institutions have joined us in an initiative to increase the number of underrepresented minorities entering careers in biomedical research. Our goal is to improve the competitiveness of minorities and to facilitate their transition into biomedical research. Whereas several offer the PhD in highly specific areas, none have the extensive platform that Vanderbilt, the applicant institution, offers. For two years of a three-year award, we have mounted what we believe to be a uniquely successful program that has had tangible success. Each partner institution has a seasoned Program Coordinator, and these seven plus four Vanderbilt faculty form the Bridges Oversight Committee (BOC) that as a group selects students for the Program and makes all policy decisions. Shared governance has proved to be a key element in our achievements. The BOC selects MS students for the entire Program and elects those who will matriculate at Vanderbilt. Thus no fixed number of slots/institution exists and selection is based on merit and performance with full participation of all partners. The new proposal re-counts the progress we have made and includes a description of the new collaborative arrangements we have established to promote and enhance the relationship between Vanderbilt and its partners. Innovative features of the original proposal that we have implemented are Bridges Day, Bridges Newsletter, and Preparing for the PhD (PPhD), which have already begun to show tangible results. PPhD is available to Bridges students the summer before they enter Vanderbilt as well as to other students who may need this didactic and literature-based introduction to their first year. This year, two students are doing their MS thesis work at Vanderbilt and we have had enrichment exchanges of faculty between Vanderbilt and partner institutions. The budget we propose includes the cost of administering and coordinating the Program, and it includes funds for the Program Director, the grant administrator, and the Program Coordinators to attend the annual Bridges Program Director meeting.