Los Angeles Basin Bridges to the Ph.D. Program

描述（由申请人提供）：洛杉矶盆地是数百万非洲裔美国人、拉丁裔美国人、美洲印第安人和太平洋岛民的家园，但很少有人在广泛的生物医学科学领域就读研究生课程，从而获得博士学位。这种对国家生物医学研究事业的参与不足，意味着大量人才库的流失，而这些人才库并没有用于解决国家的许多生物医学问题。作为对这种情况的部分解决方案，洛杉矶盆地的三家机构提议继续合作洛杉矶盆地桥梁博士项目（LABB(R) PhD），以增加生物医学科学博士项目中有才华的少数民族学生的数量。这将通过增加少数族裔学生在少数族裔机构的强终端科学硕士（M.S.）项目中的转移，通过垂直整合到主要研究型大学的博士项目中来实现。这些机构是加州州立大学洛杉矶分校（加州州立大学洛杉矶分校），一个少数族裔机构，授予硕士学位作为其最高科学学位，以及两个授予博士学位的主要研究机构：加州大学洛杉矶分校（UCLA）和加州大学欧文分校（UCI）。我们建议每年培养一组六名少数族裔学生在加州州立大学洛杉矶分校攻读硕士学位，旨在提高他们的学术和研究成果；将他们纳入更广泛的南加州生物医学研究界；让他们接触广泛的生物医学科学和科学家；提高博士生转学率；并为他们最终在生物医学科学领域的成功研究奠定基础。LABB(R)博士旨在在加州州立大学洛杉矶分校创造一个在许多重要方面模仿博士课程的环境。我们提供了一个强大的，以实验室为基础的硕士研究环境，研究员的研究兴趣驱动他们在实验室的安置。我们为奖学金获得者设计了一个学术计划，以克服他们在本科记录中的缺陷，同时提高他们的gpa和GRE成绩，使其达到有竞争力的水平。我们在整个学年举办了三个强大的每周科学研讨会系列，为研究员和教师提供与博士学位授予机构的学术科学家互动的机会。我们为我们的研究员提供密切的指导，指导他们完成学术过程——由一个由少数民族成员组成的教员提供指导。这些由LABB(R)博士项目发起并制度化的最佳实践，使加州州立大学洛杉矶分校成为大洛杉矶地区少数族裔科学毕业生备受尊敬的磁石，吸引他们获得硕士学位并继续攻读博士学位。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Los Angeles basin is home to millions of African Americans, Latinos, American Indians and Pacific Islanders, but few are enrolled in graduate programs leading to the Ph.D. in the broad range of biomedical sciences. This under-participation in the nation's biomedical research enterprise represents the loss of a large talent pool that has not been applied towards the solution of the Nation's many biomedical problems. As a partial solution to this situation, three institutions in the Los Angeles basin propose to continue the collaborative Los Angeles Basin Bridges to the Ph.D. Program (LABB(R) PhD) to increase the number of talented minority students in Ph.D. programs in the biomedical sciences. This will be done by increasing the transfer of minority students in strong terminal Master of Science (M.S.) programs at a minority institution by vertical integration into Ph.D. programs at major research universities. These institutions are California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA), a minority institution, which awards the M.S. as its highest science degree, and two Ph.D.-granting major research institutions: the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and the University of California at Irvine (UCI) We propose to train each year a group of six minority students pursuing the M.S. degree at Cal State LA in a program designed to enhance their academic and research achievement; integrate them into the broader Southern California biomedical research community; expose them to a broad range of biomedical sciences and scientists; enhance their transfer rate to Ph.D. programs; and establish the foundation for their eventual successful research careers in the biomedical sciences. The LABB(R) PhD seeks to create an environment at Cal State LA that mimics a doctoral program in many important respects. We provide a strong, lab-based M.S. research environment where the research interests of the Fellows drive their placement in labs. We design an academic plan for the Fellows that overcome deficiencies in their undergraduate records while increasing their GPAs and improving their GRE scores to competitive levels. We host three strong, weekly science seminar series throughout the academic year that provide opportunities for Fellows and faculty to interact with academic scientists from PhD-granting institutions. And we provide close mentoring to our Fellows to guide them through the academic process-mentoring provided by a faculty that is itself well-represented by minority group members. These best practices, initiated and institutionalized by the LABB(R) PhD Program, have made Cal State LA a well-respected magnet for minority science graduates in the Greater Los Angeles area to earn their MS degrees and proceed to the PhD degree.