Bridges to the Baccalaureate Research Training Program at University of Illinois at Chicago

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Abstract The mission of the proposed program is to develop a lasting, robust institutional training program for highly talented underrepresented minority (URM) students to pursue careers in biomedical research. Our program builds on the existing partnership between Malcolm X College (MXC), a community college in Chicago IL, and University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), the largest, public, Research I University in the region. The program is built upon the idea that a training program, if it is to be successful in serving associated students, must also change the students’ undergraduate experience, the faculty, and the institutions involved. Hence, we have three specific aims: (1) recruiting and supporting trainees, (2) engaging in faculty development to enhance inclusion, and (3) institutional transformation at multiple levels. Weaving through these three aims is a consistent focus on how the students and their communities are impacted by health disparities, with particular attention paid to cancer research, but also incorporating methodology and themes applicable to a variety of STEM-related fields. Activities associated with Aim 1 include completion of introductory science courses at MXC, engagement with admission transfer advisors before and after transfer to UIC, participation in UIC workshops on research methods, ethics, and culture of science, participation in summer research experiences with UIC mentors, and presentation of results at local and national conferences. Activities associated with Aim 2 include focus on cancer research in introductory courses and structured research experiences for students, and participation in annual mentoring workshops and expanding initiatives that address cancer disparities in a laboratory setting. Finally, activities associated with Aim 3 include development of research career advising at MXC, advising about the B2B training program and biomedical research opportunities, and monitoring progress of our program. We hypothesize that a program focused on questions of health disparities and the voices of the trainees and their communities, can support trainees in their development as biomedical researchers, change how instructors and mentors approach the teaching and training in science, and develop robust activities at the institutional level that can make research, health care, and education more inclusive.