Society of Toxicology Undergraduate Diversity Program

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Project Summary The Society of Toxicology’s Undergraduate Diversity Program will include about 35 undergraduate students from groups that are under-represented in the sciences and 5 faculty advisors who have strong potential to encourage students from these groups to pursue career paths in the biomedical sciences. The number of students from some demographic groups who are pursuing graduate school in the sciences is far from parity with their proportion among the US population, and the Society of Toxicology (SOT) strongly supports efforts to increase the diversity of the scientific workforce. Selected from a national pool of applicants, these students and advisors will receive travel support and participate in a 3-day program in conjunction with the next three SOT Annual Meetings, March 10-12, 2018, in San Antonio, Texas, March 9-11, 2019, in Baltimore, Maryland, and March 14-16, 2020, in Anaheim, California. The aims of this program are to 1) increase awareness of undergraduate students majoring in science and science advisors at undergraduate institutions about career choices and opportunities in toxicology and 2) increase interest of undergraduate students in graduate biomedical education and motivate students to obtain research experience especially that pertinent to toxicology. Participants will hear specially selected lectures from toxicologists whose work exemplifies high profile and diverse research interests, participate in research poster sessions, and meet with academic program directors and internship sponsors. Participants are assigned to small groups composed of graduate student peer mentors and toxicologist host-mentors who provide informal interaction and mentoring during the presentations, scientific and poster session exploration, and other sessions. Potential career choices after the PhD are examined in roundtable discussions featuring toxicologists who share their experiences in different employment sectors (academia, government, and industry). The program is based on the experience from, and evaluation and refinement of, activities across the 28-year history of the SOT Undergraduate Program.