Gatekeepers & Roadblocks: Increasing URM Student Success

描述（由申请人提供）：纽约市立大学布鲁克林学院提议制定并实施mbr - rise计划，以克服制度障碍，提高少数族裔学生和科学教师在追求生物医学研究事业方面的兴趣、技能和竞争力。我们的自我研究将学生面临的制度性问题定义为：1)从高中到大学理科课程过渡的学业困难；B)学生缺乏适当的学习技能，导致在重点科学课上表现不佳；C)学生直接参与研究的机会不足，这将提高他们从事科学事业的技能、兴趣和动机；d)对潜在的生物医学科学职业和开发有效应用于研究生院的过程缺乏了解。我们将通过一系列紧密结合的活动来弥补这些障碍，这些活动包括：a)夏季新生预科课程，强调学习策略和对内容的掌握，以便在大学科学课程中取得成功；b)一个为期四年的学习社区，在关键的科学课程中提供必要的技能和内容导向的讲习班，并提供密集的综合咨询；c)每周RISE研讨会，内容随学生在课程中的进展而变化；D)在学年和夏季有一个结构化的研究阶梯，从大一暑假开始，系统地向学生介绍研究方法、技术和动手实验工作，包括暑期研究实习，并在大四完成一个完整的独立研究项目和论文；e)丰富活动，以提高学生的计算机素养，GRE成绩，以及成功申请生物医学研究生课程的策略。学生将接受阅读和评论原创研究论文的培训，并培养沟通技巧和信心，以专业的方式展示自己的研究。通过与成功的学术和工业生物医学科学家的互动，将激发对生物医学事业的兴趣。学生活动的目标是保持学生在科学专业的轨道上，特别是作为低年级学生，并提高他们的成绩和其他证书，以便更多的人可以成功地转移到生物医学研究生课程。在教师方面，教务长关于创新科学教学的研讨会将让教师参与改进关键科学课程的教学方式。提高研究效率的障碍将通过教师资助研讨会来解决，培训新教师撰写有效的资助申请，以支持他们的研究项目和更大的研究成果。这些活动的结果将在项目期间进行系统评估，并进行调整以确保我们的目标和目的得到满足。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Brooklyn College of CUNY proposes to develop and implement an MBRS-RISE program to overcome institutional barriers to increasing the interests, skills and competitiveness of minority group students and science faculty in pursuit of biomedical research careers. Our self study defined those institutional problems for students to be a) academic difficulties in the transition from high school to college science courses; b) students' lack of appropriate learning skills, resulting in poor performance in key science classes; c) insufficient opportunity for students to be directly involved in research that will increase skills, interest and motivation for science careers; and d) lack of knowledge about potential biomedical science careers and the process of developing effective applications to graduate schools. We will remedy these barriers with a tightly integrated set of activities that includes: a) a summer pre-freshman bridge program emphasizing the learning strategies and content mastery to succeed in college science classes; b) a 4-year Learning Community, with required skills-and-content oriented workshops in key science classes and intensive comprehensive advisement; c ) weekly RISE seminars with content that changes as students progress through the program; d) a structured research ladder in the academic year and summers, starting from the post-freshman summer, which systematically introduces students to research methods, techniques, and hands-on laboratory work, including a summer research externship, and culminating in a full independent research project and paper in the senior year; and e) enrichment activities to improve student computer literacy, GRE performance, and strategies for successful applications to biomedical graduate programs. Students will be trained to read and critique original research papers, and develop the communication skills and confidence to present their own research in a professional manner. Interest in biomedical careers will be motivated through interactions with successful academic and industrial biomedical scientists. The goals of the student activities are to maintain students in science major tracks, particularly as underclassmen, and improve their grades and other credentials so that more can move successfully to biomedical graduate programs. On the faculty side, Provost's Seminars on Innovative Science Teaching will involve faculty in improving how key science courses are taught. Barriers to greater research productivity will be addressed by a faculty grant workshop to train new faculty to write effective grant applications in support of their research programs and greater research output. The outcomes of these activities will be systematically evaluated during the project, with adjustments made to assure that our goals and objectives are met.