Genomics Summer Research for Minorities: A Pathway to Promote Diversity in Science Research

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PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT Historically, minorities have been underrepresented in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) related fields. Underrepresented minorities make up 32.7% of the total population of the United States, but only account for 13% of the total number of employees in science or engineering fields. Recognizing the need to promote diversity in the STEM workforce, we propose to develop an internship program that provides minority students with a pathway to gain the necessary skills and experience to attend graduate school. Our proposal will collaborate with the outstanding Genomics resources at the University of Utah and the existing, exceptional undergraduate research internship programs already on campus. The overall goals of this program are to provide minority undergraduate participants with quality research opportunities in genomics fields. This includes training in bioinformatics and analysis of genomic datasets, and overall professional development. We aim to provide participants with skills and a pathway to successfully navigate graduate school. Undergraduate participant outcomes will be tracked and long-term support services will be provided to ensure future success of all participants. Through this proposal, we aim to increase the pipeline of minority students into bioscience and genomics research careers.