North San Diego County Bridges to the Future Program at*

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DESCRIPTION (provided by the applicant): The North San Diego County Bridges to the Future program will prepare racial and ethnic minority students for professional research careers in the biomedical sciences. The Partner Institutions are California State University San Marcos (CSUSM), Palomar College, and MiraCosta College. The Bridges Program will focus on the seamless transition of partner community college racial and ethnic minority students to CSUSM where they will be integrated into one of several MORE Program initiatives currently in operation. These initiatives are all designed to assist Bridges Scholars in completing their B.S. degrees and eventual admission to graduate programs around the country. The Bridges Program will involve 28 first and second year students each year at the partner community colleges in an integrated academic and career development environment that will include: (1) participation in a rigorous curriculum at one of the partner community colleges, (2) Supplemental Instruction in selected historically difficult courses, (3) summer course work and participation in a range of academic, leadership and career development workshops, (4) participation in a seminar series; (5) an opportunity to conduct research at CSUSM; (6) comprehensive academic and career advising; and (7) participation in a tracking program designed to insure transfer to a four-year institution. The Program is designed to create a culture at the Partnership Institutions where racial and ethnic minority students view a career in the biomedical sciences as achievable. The specific goals of the Bridges Program are to: (1) Increase the Number of Underrepresented Minority Students Pursuing Research Careers in the Biomedical Sciences; (2) Improve the Training of Underrepresented Biomedical Science Students at Palomar and Mira Costa College; (3) Develop Partnerships that Support and Facilitate Underrepresented Minority Student Transfers at Key Points in the Educational Pipeline; and (4) Build a Sense of Community and Cultivate Leadership Among Bridges Scholars. Each major program goal has a set of specific objectives with quantitatively measurable outcomes that will be used to monitor overall project success. The Partner Institutions' commitment to diversity and multiculturalism, their pledge of significant financial resources, the active support of the North County High Education Alliance, new science and academic buildings equipped with modern scientific instruments and powerful instructional resources, the significant Bridges Scholar student pool at the partner community colleges, the extensive experience of the proposed program director, and the currently operating MBRS SCORE, MARC U*STAR and planned MBRS IUSE Programs at CSUSM make the Partner Institutions ideally situated to initiate a successful North San Diego County Bridges to the Future program.