U-RISE at Howard University

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Summary/Abstract The United States (US) biomedical science (BMS) enterprise critically lacks diversity at the Ph.D. level. This problem is due to the lack of underrepresented minority (URM) students at the undergraduate level majoring in STEM (science technology engineering and mathematics) disciplines. Diversifying our BMS workforce would improve health equity by eradicating health disparities. This is of the utmost importance since the COVID-19 pandemic is disproportionately affecting underrepresented populations in the US. Given the proper academic and research training along with encouragement, a substantial number of academically talented URM students would seek research career in the BMS workforce. The Undergraduate Research Training Initiative for Student Enhancement (U-RISE) at Howard University Program will tap into this reservoir of students that would contribute to the diversification of our BMS workforce. Hence, the U-RISE at HU Program leadership mission is to recruit talented and passionate undergraduate students who envision themselves as innovative BMS scientists and global leaders in their fields. Our program mission is to engage them in an enhanced academic curriculum and hands-on research activities during the junior and senior years. This will produce a cadre highly educated, motivated, and well-trained URM students. To implement and sustain U-RISE at HU Program, the objective of the project needs to be integrated into our science community and culture. Our specific aims are the following: 1) To recruit academically talented and highly motivated URMs students to participate as trainees who aspire to a career as a Ph.D. level scientist in BMS discipline. 2) To provide our trainees with an enhanced and structured research training through an interdisciplinary hands-on intramural research experience, extramural summer research experience (SRE) as well as a classroom based didactic research. 3) To have at least 75% our program trainees accepted into a research intensive (R1) university Ph.D. programs in a BMS discipline within two years of graduation from Howard University, and 4) To design, implement, and institutionalize a STEM professional development course to stimulate our trainees’ interest. Finally, we envision our program will create a strong foundation for Howard University in the recruitment, enrollment, retention, and advancement of enthusiastic undergraduate students majoring in the BMS disciplines.