Arizona Biology Network

亚利桑那生物学网络（ABN）的主要目标是增加在亚利桑那州获得生物医学和行为科学学士学位的少数民族学生人数。在其存在的10年中，该计划发展成为亚利桑那州的3所州立大学和20所社区学院以及新墨西哥州的一所学院之间的合作努力。拟议的项目将把工作重点放在那些在申请人数、参与人数和转学生成功率方面产生最富有成效的伙伴关系的机构。社区学院的学生和教师将参加亚利桑那大学实验室的夏季研究项目。有确凿的证据支持这样一个事实，即进行研究的本科生更有可能追求和完成研究生学业，希望ABN的学生参与者将成为科学界的领导者，并努力减少该州各民族之间的健康差距。在学年期间，这些学生将有机会在当地的社区学院担任导师。作为导师，他们将成为其他少数民族学生的榜样和同伴导师，这些学生可能是ABN的潜在新兵。导师在提升本身学术竞争力的同时，亦有助提升社区学院的整体学习环境。每个学生将被分配到他或她的社区学院或在他们转移到大学的教师导师。拟议项目的目标是：1）提高招聘过程的有效性和效率; 2）改善与社区学院招聘人员/协调员和亚利桑那大学教师/赞助商的网络，为夏季课程做准备; 3）提高夏季研究经验的有效性，并鼓励夏季后继续参与研究; 4）改善对ABN学生的指导、咨询和跟踪; 5）改善社区学院的学习环境。这些目标的预期成果包括提高申请人库的质量和提高项目效率。上述目标一旦实现，将为实现全国通向学士学位桥梁的目标取得重大进展，即到2009年实现90%的转学率和70%的毕业率。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The primary goal of the Arizona Biology Network (ABN) is to increase the number of underrepresented minority students who obtain Baccalaureate degrees in the biomedical and behavioral sciences in the State of Arizona. Over the 10 years of its existence, the program grew into a cooperative effort between the 3 State universities and 20 community colleges in Arizona and one college in New Mexico that is on the Dine reservation. The proposed project will focus its efforts on those institutions that have yielded the most fruitful partnerships in terms of the numbers of applicants, participants and transfer students success. Community college students and faculty will participate in summer research projects in the laboratories at the University of Arizona. There is solid evidence to support the fact that undergraduates who conduct research are more likely to pursue and complete graduate studies, and it is hoped that the student participants in the ABN will emerge as leaders in science and work toward lessening health disparities between ethnic groups in this state. During the academic year, these students will have the opportunity to tutor at their local community college. As tutors, they will serve as role models and peer mentors to other minority students who may be potential recruits to the ABN. The tutors, while enhancing their own academic competitiveness, will also contribute to the enhancement of the overall learning environment at the community colleges. Each student will be assigned to a faculty mentor at his or her community college or at the university to which they transfer. The objectives of the proposed project are to 1) improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the recruiting process; 2) improve networking with community college recruiters/coordinators and University of Arizona faculty/sponsors in preparation for the summer program; 3) improve the effectiveness of the summer research experience and encourage continuation of involvement in research after the summer; 4) improve mentoring, advising and tracking of the ABN students; 5) improve the learning environment at the community colleges. The anticipated outcomes of these objectives include an increase in the quality of the applicant pool and increased program efficiency. The aforementioned objectives, when achieved, will bring about significant progress toward the National Bridges to the Baccalaureate goal of a 90% transfer rate and 70% completion rate by the year 2009.