Minority Bridges Program

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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.