Genomics Scholar Program

描述(申请人提供)：对更多科学家和工程师的呼吁已经持续了几十年。尽管在这方面的努力已经取得了进展，但在科学和工程领域，来自几个人口群体的个人仍然代表不足。2007年，人数不足的少数族裔获得了11%的理工科博士学位，亚裔/太平洋岛民获得了10%的理工科博士学位，而1989年这两个数字分别为5%和6%。然而，与美国人口相比，这一比例极低，美国人口中少数族裔占总人口的35%以上，这表明确实需要少数族裔更多地参与教育的各个环节。两个关键的转折点是从两年制社区大学到四年制学士学位完成制大学，以及从四年制大学到硕士课程的飞跃。克雷格·文特尔研究所(JCVI)提出了一个过渡计划，重点放在第一个飞跃上，利用包括本科生研究经验、指导和专业发展在内的一系列活动。基因组学者计划(GSP)将重点关注社区大学代表不足的少数族裔学生，为他们进入四年制学校做好准备。这将通过实施过渡项目的最佳实践来实现，如马里兰大学巴尔的摩县分校(UMBC)迈耶霍夫学者计划、联合黑人大学基金会-默克科学计划和加州大学戴维斯分校(UCD)生物学本科生计划(BUSP)。我们的计划将包括通过多年的研究经验和首席调查员作为导师为学生提供的多种支持途径，以及由JCVI提供的补充专业发展。此外，被选中的学生将有机会参加本科生少数民族研究会议，这将使他们接触到研究和项目的各个方面。普惠制的目标是：让贫困、多样化和学业脆弱的本科生参与基因组研究；并指导一批有竞争力申请四年制学士学位完整学院的社区学院本科生。拟议的普惠制将直接与首席研究员的科学重点保持一致，即NIDDK资助的多年1型糖尿病(T1D)影响项目(资助号：1 DP3 DK 94343-01；2011年-2015年)，利用基因组技术了解宿主肠道微生物群对T1D疾病发病的影响。在将研究员整合到实验室研究团队的同时，将根据他们的能力和兴趣以及导师对NIDDK-T1D项目的科学关注来发展个人研究经验。在支持T1D项目的总体目标的同时，Flowers将有机会直接使用通过该项目产生的“组学”数据。在JCVI的实习期间，我们建议让研究员们参与JCVI经营的一系列研究和教育举措中的各种研究活动。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The call for more scientists and engineers has been ongoing for decades. Though there have been strides made in this effort, individuals from several population groups are still under-represented in the Science and Engineering fields. Under-represented minorities earned 11% and Asians/Pacific Islanders earned 10% of the Science and Engineering doctorates in 2007, up from 5% and 6%, respectively, in 1989. However, this representation is extremely low compared to the U.S. population where minorities represent over 35% of the general population demonstrating that there is a definite need for greater participation by minorities at all points of the educational pipeline. Two transition point that are crucial are the leaps from two-year community colleges into four-year baccalaureate completer colleges and from four-year colleges to masters programs. The J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) proposes a transition program focusing on the first leap using a combination of activities including undergraduate research experience with mentoring and professional development. The Genomics Scholars Program (GSP) will focus on community college under-represented minority students to prepare them to enter four-year school. This will be accomplished by implementing the best practices of transition programs such as the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) Meyerhoff Scholars Program, United Negro College Fund-Merck Science Initiative, and the University of California, Davis (UCD), Biology Undergraduate Scholars Program (BUSP). Our program will incorporate multiple avenues of support for students through a multi-year research experience with the Principal Investigators as mentors, and supplemental professional development provided by the JCVI. Additionally, selected students will have the opportunity to participate in undergraduate minority research conferences, which will expose them to various aspects of research and programs. The goals of the GSP are to: engage underprivileged, diverse and academically vulnerable undergraduate students in genomic research; and to mentor a pool of community college undergraduates that are competitive to apply to four-year baccalaureate completer colleges. The proposed GSP will align directly with the Principal Investigator's scientific focus on the multi-year NIDDK funded Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) impact project (Grant Number: 1 DP3 DK 94343 - 01; 2011-2015) understanding the impact of the host gut microbiome on T1D disease onset using genomic techniques. While integrating the Fellows into the laboratory research team, individual research experience will be developed based on their abilities and interest as well as the mentor's scientific focus on the NIDDK-T1D project. While supporting the overall aim of the T1D project, Fellows will have the opportunity to work directly with 'omics' data generated through this project. During their internship at JCVI we propose to engage the Fellows in diverse research activities situated within a portfolio of research and education initiatives operated by the JCVI.