A STEP up for the life sciences: Strengthening a research university/minority-serving community college partnership

佛罗里达大学微生物与细胞科学系和迈阿密戴德学院（美国最大的少数族裔服务机构）正在合作开展一个创新项目，该项目开发了一个桥梁项目，让从MDC获得AA学位的学生可以在佛罗里达大学获得学士学位。该计划旨在克服许多阻碍学生扩大STEM参与的障碍，这些学生往往缺乏资源或兴趣搬迁到STEM教育机会更好发展的地理位置。虽然具有创新性，但该项目包括了通常实施的最佳实践，以提高STEM领域少数族裔的保留率，如对等辅导、职业指导、本科生奖学金和本科生研究。对保留和成功有明显影响的活动成为远程教育项目的永久特征。智力优势：UF-MDC合作伙伴关系代表了微生物和细胞科学系的远程教育计划的基石，因为该计划在未来三年内通过与其他2年制机构发展伙伴关系在全州范围内扩展。该项目测试了一种创新的方法来开发桥梁学位课程，将研究型大学课程带给他们社区的学生。在这样做的过程中，该项目提供了急需的数据，以解决有关远程学习的有效性和技术在我国大学生教育中应该发挥的作用的重要和当代问题。更广泛的影响：由于MDC在城市环境中有不同的学生社区，包括许多来自STEM领域背景不足的学生，该项目正在准备和发展一个更大的对STEM感兴趣的本科生人才库（但他们可能没有机会），通过实施一个旨在提供教育机会并满足他们离家更近的需求的计划。

The Microbiology & Cell Science Department at the University of Florida (UF) and Miami Dade College (the largest minority-serving institution in the country; MDC) are collaborating on an innovative project that develops a bridge program where students receiving their AA degree from MDC progress to their BS degree at UF. The program is designed to overcome many of the barriers that often reduce broadening participation in STEM by students who often lack the resources or interest in relocating to geographic locations where STEM educational opportunities are better developed. Although innovative, the project includes commonly implemented best practices to improve minority retention in STEM fields such as peer to peer tutoring, career mentoring, undergraduate scholarships, and undergraduate research. Activities with a demonstrated impact on retention and success become a permanent feature of the Distance Education program. Intellectual Merit: The UF-MDC partnership represents the cornerstone of the Microbiology & Cell Science Department's Distance Education program as the program expands statewide by developing partnerships with other 2-yr institutions over the next three years. This project tests an innovative approach to developing a bridge degree program that brings a research university curriculum to the students in their community. In doing so, the project is providing much needed data addressing important and contemporary questions concerning the efficacy of distance learning and the role that technology should play in the education of our nation's undergraduates. Broader Impacts: Because MDC is in an urban environment with diverse communities of students, including many from background underrepresented in the STEM fields, the project is preparing and developing a much larger talent pool of undergraduates that have an interest in STEM (but who otherwise may not have the opportunity) by implementing a program that is designed to offer educational opportunities and meet their needs closer to home.