Mentoring Young Minds to Increase Diversity in Biomedical Research

描述(由申请人提供)：与其他民族相比，生物医学科学领域中代表不足的少数族裔(URM)教职员工数量极低。随着URM研究生和博士后研究员人数的增加，这种情况可能会逆转。这项申请的总体目标是响应最大化学生多样性倡议(IMSD)，引导本科生进入生物医学科学的博士课程。URM学者将在他们的本科学习的很早的时候就动手做实验研究，首先是作为暑期项目的一部分，在那里他们将被介绍基本的实验室技术和科学思维。这一初步计划可能会增加URM学生在科学领域的留存率(具体目标1)。暑期项目结束后，这些学生将进入知名研究人员的实验室，他们将担任他们的导师。这些导师将进一步培训和激励学者攻读博士学位。参与者将在申请各种博士课程时得到帮助(具体目标2)。达到最低要求(GPA为3.0或以上，以B级或更高成绩完成研究生课程，并得到学生导师的大力推荐)的学者将保证进入加州大学圣地亚哥分校(UCSD)的生物医学(BMS)博士项目，在该项目中，他们将获得两年的资助，并获得独立资助，以完成其博士学位。此外，这些学生将被教育如何在博士后培训后制定获得教师职位的策略(具体目标3)。由于教育者是极具影响力的榜样，并直接对学习经验负责，因此需要一个广泛的种族教师队伍，以保证未来美国科学家理想的全面发展所需的丰富意见和经验。与其他民族相比，生物医学科学中代表不足的少数民族(URM)教职员工的数量极低。这一情况可能会随着URM生物医学博士生人数的增加而逆转，这是本申请的总体目标。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The number of underrepresented minority (URM) faculty in biomedical sciences is extremely low in comparison with other ethnic groups. This situation could be reversed with an increase in the population of URM graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. The overall objective of this application, in response to the Initiative for Maximizing Student Diversity (IMSD), is to channel undergraduate students into Ph.D. programs in the biomedical sciences. URM scholars will be engaged very early on in their undergraduate studies in hands-on bench research, first as part of a summer program, where they will be introduced to basic laboratory techniques and scientific thinking. This initial program is likely to increase the retention of URM students in the field of science (specific aim 1). After the summer program, these students will join the laboratories of well- established investigators who will serve as their mentors. These mentors will further train and motivate the scholars to pursue Ph.D. degrees. Participants will be assisted in their applications to various Ph.D. programs (specific aim 2). Scholars that achieve a minimum of requirements (a GPA of 3.0 or above, completion of a graduate course with a grade of B or better, and a strong recommendation from the student's mentor) will have guaranteed admission into the Biomedical Science (BMS) Ph.D. program at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) where they will be supported for two years and aided in obtaining independent funding to complete their Ph.D. degrees. Moreover, these students will be educated on how to develop a strategy for obtaining faculty positions after postdoctoral training (specific aim 3). Since educators are highly influential role models and directly responsible for the learning experience, a wide ethnic pool of teachers is needed to guarantee the wealth in opinion and experience required for the desired well-rounded development of future American scientists. The number of underrepresented minority (URM) faculty in biomedical sciences is extremely low in comparison with other ethnic groups. This situation could be reversed with an increase in the population of URM Ph.D. students in biomedical sciences, which is the overall objective of this application.