Biomedical Research Training for Science Undergraduates

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A short-term training grant is requested to support the New Horizons Program at Cornell. An award would enable ten competitively selected students who have completed their sophomore year in a quantitative or physical science discipline or engineering to take part in an intensive ten week program in each of two successive years. The program would be structured to encourage entry of the trainees into careers in biomedical research. The initiative would combine faculty-guided research in cell and molecular biology with vocational counseling and professional enhancement activities of singular richness and diversity. Talented students would be drawn from Cornell and from 20 other institutions known for the excellence of the education they provide in the targeted undergraduate disciplines. The criteria for student selection would include the individual's academic record, research experience and recommendations. When realistic, candidates for training would be interviewed by the Executive Committee and relevant members of the participating faculty. The criteria for project selection would be the scientific merit of the proposed research and the prospect that meaningful progress would be made during the ten-week period that the program is in session. Cornell students would have the opportunity to continue their research during their junior and senior academic years although support for that phase of the program is not requested. Research experiences would be offered in cancer biology, genetics, infectious diseases, and in signaling mechanisms associated with cell growth, cell movement, and cancer cell metastases. The participating faculty would be nationally competitive research scientists who have excellent training records. Training would be structured to encourage the student's commitment to a research career while simultaneously enhancing their critical capacity and communication skills. Vital in this connection would be academic counseling that would facilitate the individual's entry into a graduate program in the biomedical sciences.