MARC at The Ohio State University

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ABSTRACT The mission of Ohio State’s Promoting Research in Engineering, Public Health, and Disciplines in Science (PREPHDS) program is to increase diversity in the next generation of biomedical scholars doing impactful research. This will be accomplished by providing undergraduate students from historically underrepresented groups with a research-focused training program that includes courses, experiential learning, faculty and graduate student mentoring, and peer support. The long-term goal of the PREPHDS program is to increase the number of students from historically underrepresented groups who pursue research careers in fields including, but not limited to, engineering, public health, life and physical sciences, and health sciences – all key to the biomedical sciences. The unifying theme of the PREPHDS program is impactful research from molecules to society. We have designed a comprehensive program with a student-level evaluation plan to assess specific and measurable objectives throughout our PREPHDS program and for 15 years after students complete the program. The RE-AIM (reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance) framework guides the evaluation that is planned to assess the short-term, intermediate, and long-term outcomes included in our logic model. Following completion of the PREPHDS program, students will: 1) feel a sense of community with their peers and faculty and graduate student mentors; 2) feel a sense of belonging at Ohio State; and 3) increase their self-efficacy for research. We expect that 80% of students will publish at least one paper as co-author or first author, 50% will apply to a doctoral program at graduation and 80% in 3 years, and 80% will have a biomedical science career within 10 years. The PREPHDS program will collect evaluation data annually, evaluate the data with its Internal Advisory Board, and make necessary changes with the goal of continuous program improvement. Despite excellence in research and teaching, dedicated programs for first- and second- year students, and focused efforts to promote diversity among graduate students, Ohio State currently lacks a mentored research program designed to diversify the field of biomedical science by targeting undergraduate students. The PREPHDS program is designed for students who are interested in engaging in biomedical research broadly defined from molecules to society.