Broadening Research Achievement in Neurosciences (BRAiN) for a Diverse Workforce

根据2011年的数据，近1亿美国人至少患有一千多种神经系统疾病中的一种。痴呆症的风险随着年龄的增长呈指数级增加，对黑人和西班牙裔的影响不成比例。为神经系统疾病和中风找到有效的治疗方法需要神经系统的基本知识和多样化劳动力的参与，以提高我们的整体创造力。2017年，美国教育部将加州大学欧文分校(UCI)命名为拉美裔服务机构，这意味着四分之一的本科生认为是拉丁裔，一半的学生接受经济援助。UCI有50多名教职员工从事神经科学方面的研究，主要在神经生物学和行为学(NBB)以及解剖学和神经生物学系。NBB成立于1964年，是世界上第一个神经科学系(神经科学学会成立前五年)，被国家研究委员会评为顶尖学科之一。在过去的18年里，UCI少数民族科学计划(MSP)开发了创新的干预措施，以提高学术水平，并增加未被充分代表的少数民族(URM)本科生的数量，使其成为下一代生物医学研究人员。为不同的工作人员拓展神经科学(大脑)研究成果计划的目标是促进参与者从社区大学到UCI以及从大学到神经科学博士课程的职业发展。可衡量的目标是每年将URM本科生进入神经科学博士项目的人数增加三倍。参与者将花两年时间接受指导，并持续进行研究。在二年级，学员将加入MSP培训实验室，该实验室致力于发展原创研究项目，同时为没有上过高年级课程的URM学生提供培养和激励的环境。随后，参与者将加入UCI致力于神经科学的实验室之一。参与者将参加神经科学、科学写作和负责任的研究行为培训课程。在该项目结束时，参与者将参加神经科学家的30次研究讲座，培养强大的定量推理技能(包括计算机编程)，在两次全国会议上展示他们的研究成果，以研究经验为基础参与一篇论文的联合作者，并获得顶尖大学神经科学博士项目的录取。

): Nearly 100 million Americans were afflicted by at least one of more than a thousand neurological diseases, according to data for 2011. The risk of dementia increases exponentially with age, with disproportionate effects on blacks and Hispanics. Finding effective treatments for neurological disorders and strokes requires fundamental knowledge of the nervous system and the participation of a diverse workforce to enhance our overall creativity. In 2017, the U.S. Department of Education named the University of California, Irvine, (UCI) as a Hispanic-serving institution, meaning that one-quarter of the undergraduate student body identifies as Latino and that half of all students receive financial aid. More than 50 UCI faculty conduct research in neurosciences, primarily in the Departments of Neurobiology and Behavior (NBB), and Anatomy and Neurobiology. NBB, which was established in 1964, was the first neuroscience department in the world (five years before the formation of the Society for Neuroscience) and it is ranked among the top by the National Research Council. Over the last 18 years, the UCI Minority Science Programs (MSP) has developed innovative interventions to improve the academic excellence and to increase the number of underrepresented minority (URM) undergraduates being trained as the next generation of biomedical researchers. The objective of the program Broadening Research Achievement in Neurosciences (BRAiN) for a Diverse Workforce is to facilitate participants’ career advancement from community college to UCI and from college to Ph.D. programs in neurosciences. The measurable objective is to increase by three-fold the number of URM undergraduates entering Ph.D. programs in neurosciences each year. Participants will spend two years being mentored and conducting research continuously. During the sophomore year, participants will join the MSP training laboratory, which is dedicated to developing original research projects while providing a nurturing and stimulating environment for URM students who have not taken upper division classes. Subsequently, participants will join one of the UCI laboratories dedicated to neurosciences. Participants will take courses in neurosciences, scientific writing and training in the responsible conduct of research. At the end of the program, participants will have attended 30 research talks by neuroscientists, developed strong quantitative reasoning skills (including computer programming), presented their research findings at two national conferences, participated as co-authors on a paper based on their research experience and gained admission to Ph.D. programs in neurosciences at top universities.