UNM Initiative to Maximize Student Diversity (IMSD)

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The University of New Mexico is requesting $2.569 million to renew for four more years our Initiative for Minority Student Development (IMSD). Our IMSD prepares at least 40 students for graduate school, and supports at least 10 graduate students to complete their degrees in biomedical, behavioral and bioengineering fields. We expect most of them will pursue research careers that will help reduce health disparities (diabetes, cancer, obesity, infant mortality, HIV/AIDS, and alcoholism) that afflict minorities and those in poverty. The aims and objectives we have used successfully in the current program and propose for the next four years are: Aim 1: To increase numbers of undergraduates prepared for research careers, we are expanding our recruitment/retention efforts. All IMSD undergraduates participate in: (1) a faculty-mentored research experience to develop technical and intellectual skills; (2) a 1-credit conference course involving preparing a research proposal, research poster presentations, bioethics, seminars, and career development activities; (3) participating in research symposia; (4) attending workshops on graduate school applications and the GRE; 5) writing graduate school applications and taking the GRE; 6) attending a Discovery and Innovation course to be exposed to multi/interdisciplinary research; and 7) participating in a Responsible Conduct of Research series. Through these efforts, we will increase to 60% the number entering graduate school upon graduation. Aim 2: To broaden multi/interdisciplinary research opportunities for all students at UNM in areas funded by NIH, we will: 1) add mentors in more science and engineering fields; 2) develop courses and workshops taught by faculty from Model Organism Databases, e.g. FlyBase at Harvard; 3) develop new collaborations with the Genomics and MCB T32, etc., at the University of Washington; and 4) increase student understanding of interdisciplinary research by creating new Discovery and Innovation courses in other departments. Aim 3: To increase the success of underrepresented graduate students at UNM, we will: 1) support/mentor 5 graduate students during their first two years; 2) provide leadership opportunities through the conference class (which they will help to teach) and peer mentoring; 3) provide academic and financial support, as available, in their last 2 semesters prior to graduation; and 4) work with the Office of Graduate Studies (OGS), the Peer Mentoring for Graduate Students of Color organization, and others to increase the number of minority students in UNM graduate programs. Through these efforts, 90% of the IMSD Ph.D. students will complete their doctoral degrees within 6 years. Evaluations of IMSD students and a control group will be carried out to determine the success of each program element, to identify areas for improvement, and to provide information about enrollments, success, and challenges to the program and departments. Each of these objectives is aligned with the goals for IMSD programs and aimed at making sustainable increases in minority graduate school enrollment and success. Public health relevance: The UNM Initiative for Minority Student Development (IMSD) plans during the next four-year program of activities to prepare at least 40 underrepresented minority and other students for graduate school degree programs in the biomedical, behavioral and bioengineering fields, and to assist at least 10 underrepresented minority graduate students in these fields to complete their degree programs. The significance of these accomplishments is that we expect most of these students will pursue research careers that will help reduce health disparities (diabetes, cancer, obesity, infant mortality, HIV/AIDS, and alcoholism) that afflict minorities and those in poverty. To whatever extent their research will contribute toward this overall goal, to that extent will all ethnic groups and people benefit from the results of these efforts.