Genomics Scholar Program

描述（由申请人提供）：对更多科学家和工程师的需求已经持续了几十年。尽管在这方面已经取得了长足的进步，但来自几个人口群体的个人在科学和工程领域的代表性仍然不足。2007年，未被充分代表的少数族裔获得了11%的科学和工程博士学位，亚洲/太平洋岛民获得了10%的科学和工程博士学位，而1989年这一比例分别为5%和6%。然而，与美国人口相比，这一比例非常低，美国人口中少数民族占总人口的35%以上，这表明在教育管道的各个方面，少数民族确实需要更多的参与。两个至关重要的过渡点是从两年制社区大学到四年制学士学位学院和从四年制大学到硕士课程的飞跃。J.克雷格文特尔研究所（JCVI）提出了一个过渡计划，重点关注第一次飞跃，结合活动，包括本科研究经验，指导和专业发展。基因组学学者计划（GSP）将重点关注社区大学代表性不足的少数族裔学生，帮助他们为进入四年制大学做准备。这将通过实施过渡项目的最佳实践来实现，如马里兰大学巴尔的摩县分校（UMBC）迈耶霍夫学者计划、联合黑人学院基金-默克科学计划和加州大学戴维斯分校（UCD）生物学本科学者计划（BUSP）。我们的项目将为学生提供多种途径的支持，包括首席研究员作为导师的多年研究经验，以及JCVI提供的补充专业发展。此外，被选中的学生将有机会参加本科少数民族研究会议，这将使他们接触到研究和项目的各个方面。GSP的目标是：让贫困、多样化和学业上脆弱的本科生参与基因组研究；并指导一群有竞争力申请四年制学士学位大学的社区大学本科生。拟议的GSP将直接与首席研究员对NIDDK资助的多年1型糖尿病（T1D）影响项目（授权号：1 DP3 DK 94343 - 01； 2011-2015）的科学重点保持一致，该项目利用基因组技术了解宿主肠道微生物组对T1D疾病发病的影响。在将研究员纳入实验室研究团队的同时，将根据他们的能力和兴趣以及导师对NIDDK-T1D项目的科学重点来发展个人研究经验。在支持T1D项目总体目标的同时，研究员将有机会直接使用该项目产生的“组学”数据。在JCVI实习期间，我们建议研究员参与JCVI运营的研究和教育计划组合内的各种研究活动。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The call for more scientists and engineers has been ongoing for decades. Though there have been strides made in this effort, individuals from several population groups are still under-represented in the Science and Engineering fields. Under-represented minorities earned 11% and Asians/Pacific Islanders earned 10% of the Science and Engineering doctorates in 2007, up from 5% and 6%, respectively, in 1989. However, this representation is extremely low compared to the U.S. population where minorities represent over 35% of the general population demonstrating that there is a definite need for greater participation by minorities at all points of the educational pipeline. Two transition point that are crucial are the leaps from two-year community colleges into four-year baccalaureate completer colleges and from four-year colleges to masters programs. The J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) proposes a transition program focusing on the first leap using a combination of activities including undergraduate research experience with mentoring and professional development. The Genomics Scholars Program (GSP) will focus on community college under-represented minority students to prepare them to enter four-year school. This will be accomplished by implementing the best practices of transition programs such as the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) Meyerhoff Scholars Program, United Negro College Fund-Merck Science Initiative, and the University of California, Davis (UCD), Biology Undergraduate Scholars Program (BUSP). Our program will incorporate multiple avenues of support for students through a multi-year research experience with the Principal Investigators as mentors, and supplemental professional development provided by the JCVI. Additionally, selected students will have the opportunity to participate in undergraduate minority research conferences, which will expose them to various aspects of research and programs. The goals of the GSP are to: engage underprivileged, diverse and academically vulnerable undergraduate students in genomic research; and to mentor a pool of community college undergraduates that are competitive to apply to four-year baccalaureate completer colleges. The proposed GSP will align directly with the Principal Investigator's scientific focus on the multi-year NIDDK funded Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) impact project (Grant Number: 1 DP3 DK 94343 - 01; 2011-2015) understanding the impact of the host gut microbiome on T1D disease onset using genomic techniques. While integrating the Fellows into the laboratory research team, individual research experience will be developed based on their abilities and interest as well as the mentor's scientific focus on the NIDDK-T1D project. While supporting the overall aim of the T1D project, Fellows will have the opportunity to work directly with 'omics' data generated through this project. During their internship at JCVI we propose to engage the Fellows in diverse research activities situated within a portfolio of research and education initiatives operated by the JCVI.