Gatekeepers & Roadblocks: Increasing URM Student Success

描述（由申请人提供）：纽约市立大学布鲁克林学院建议制定和实施MBRS-RISE计划，以克服体制障碍，提高少数民族学生和科学教师在追求生物医学研究事业中的兴趣，技能和竞争力。我们的自我研究将学生的这些制度性问题定义为a）从高中到大学科学课程的过渡中的学业困难; B）学生缺乏适当的学习技能，导致重点科学课程的表现不佳; c）学生没有足够的机会直接参与研究，以提高技能，兴趣和科学事业的动力;以及d）缺乏对潜在的生物医学科学职业的了解以及开发有效的研究生院应用程序的过程。我们将通过一系列紧密结合的活动来弥补这些障碍，这些活动包括：a）一个夏季新生预科衔接项目，强调学习策略和内容掌握，以在大学科学课程中取得成功; B）一个为期4年的学习社区，在重点科学课程中举办以技能和内容为导向的研讨会，并进行密集的综合培训; c）每周一次的RISE研讨会，内容随着学生在课程中的进步而变化; d）学年和夏季的结构化研究阶梯，从大一后的夏季开始，系统地向学生介绍研究方法，技术，和动手实验室工作，包括夏季研究实习，并在一个完全独立的研究项目和论文在高年级达到高潮;和e）丰富的活动，以提高学生的计算机素养，GRE成绩，并成功应用到生物医学研究生课程的策略。学生将接受培训，阅读和评论原始研究论文，并发展沟通技巧和信心，以专业的方式提出自己的研究。对生物医学职业的兴趣将通过与成功的学术和工业生物医学科学家的互动来激发。学生活动的目标是保持学生在科学专业的轨道，特别是作为低年级学生，并提高他们的成绩和其他证书，使更多的人可以成功地移动到生物医学研究生课程。在教师方面，教务长的创新科学教学研讨会将涉及教师在改善关键科学课程的教学方式。提高研究生产力的障碍将通过教师资助研讨会来解决，以培训新教师撰写有效的资助申请，以支持他们的研究计划和更大的研究成果。这些活动的结果将在项目期间进行系统评估，并作出调整，以确保实现我们的目标和目的。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Brooklyn College of CUNY proposes to develop and implement an MBRS-RISE program to overcome institutional barriers to increasing the interests, skills and competitiveness of minority group students and science faculty in pursuit of biomedical research careers. Our self study defined those institutional problems for students to be a) academic difficulties in the transition from high school to college science courses; b) students' lack of appropriate learning skills, resulting in poor performance in key science classes; c) insufficient opportunity for students to be directly involved in research that will increase skills, interest and motivation for science careers; and d) lack of knowledge about potential biomedical science careers and the process of developing effective applications to graduate schools. We will remedy these barriers with a tightly integrated set of activities that includes: a) a summer pre-freshman bridge program emphasizing the learning strategies and content mastery to succeed in college science classes; b) a 4-year Learning Community, with required skills-and-content oriented workshops in key science classes and intensive comprehensive advisement; c ) weekly RISE seminars with content that changes as students progress through the program; d) a structured research ladder in the academic year and summers, starting from the post-freshman summer, which systematically introduces students to research methods, techniques, and hands-on laboratory work, including a summer research externship, and culminating in a full independent research project and paper in the senior year; and e) enrichment activities to improve student computer literacy, GRE performance, and strategies for successful applications to biomedical graduate programs. Students will be trained to read and critique original research papers, and develop the communication skills and confidence to present their own research in a professional manner. Interest in biomedical careers will be motivated through interactions with successful academic and industrial biomedical scientists. The goals of the student activities are to maintain students in science major tracks, particularly as underclassmen, and improve their grades and other credentials so that more can move successfully to biomedical graduate programs. On the faculty side, Provost's Seminars on Innovative Science Teaching will involve faculty in improving how key science courses are taught. Barriers to greater research productivity will be addressed by a faculty grant workshop to train new faculty to write effective grant applications in support of their research programs and greater research output. The outcomes of these activities will be systematically evaluated during the project, with adjustments made to assure that our goals and objectives are met.