RISE: A graduate training program to increase diversity in biomedical science

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Delaware State University (DSU), a Historically-Black university with an emerging strength in research proposes a RISE program focused on graduate training in biomedical science. Our interdisciplinary graduate training program will support a diverse group of students in our MS programs in biology and neuroscience and our Neuroscience PhD program. Our biology MS programs have been effective at supporting students from under-represented groups to continue on to PhD programs either at DSU or another institution, while our 6-year old PhD program produced its first 4 graduates in 2015/2016, and 3 out of the 4 are African-American. With our RISE project we will build on our record of graduating diverse MS students and bridging them into PhD programs and doctoral degree achievement, while addressing weaknesses identified by our program self-assessment. Students in our MS program face challenges in writing their thesis and completing their degree, and low scores on the quantitative component of the GRE is a barrier for MS students continuing on to PhD programs. We will improve the completion rate of our MS and PhD students and prepare them for careers in research with increased emphasis on building writing, presentation and scientific reasoning skills. Our “Graduate-RISE” support program will link students in DSU's MS in Biology, MS in Molecular & Cellular Neuroscience, and PhD in Neuroscience programs into a supportive, research-rich community that will provide extensive professional and skills development including: 1) A two-semester, 3 credit Skills for Research Careers course with increased opportunities for writing, and presentation as well as writing a grant proposal that will be reviewed by a mock study section; 2) Quantitative skills and Thesis Writing courses; and 3) the formal program induction/orientation and enhanced mentoring by culturally-competent mentors. These activities have been carefully designed to support our students' success. The professional development course grant writing and extensive mentoring will help the students to develop their identities as professional scientist, while the thesis/dissertation writing course will provide the support to get them across the finish line. Grounded in the literature, these strategies will both provide the RISE students with strong academic support, and all of the project components are sustainable and transferrable to other schools and programs. The Evaluation Plan includes focus groups for summative assessment and validated, baseline and follow-up surveys to assess the development of participants' self-efficacy (research and academic) and STEM identities.