UAB PREP Scholars Program

描述（由申请人提供）：位于伯明翰的亚拉巴马大学（UAB）是一所综合性研究型大学和医学综合体，拥有1.92亿美元的NIH资助研究。UAB坚定地致力于培养来自不同背景的本科生和研究生，包括代表性不足的少数民族和来自弱势背景的学生。UAB已经建立并支持了几个项目，以帮助这些学生实现他们的教育和职业目标。UAB目前缺乏的是一种手段，提供机会，以潜在的研究生谁作出决定，追求博士教育在他们的本科生涯后期。这些学生可能已经获得了学士学位，但没有进入顶级生物医学研究生课程的资格证书，在这些课程中，先前的研究经验和高标准化考试成绩是入学的基本标准。我们已经确定了几个潜在的人才库，从其中招募这样的学生：1）少数民族学生谁申请我们的生物医学博士课程之一，但谁不提供录取，由于低GRE成绩或没有研究经验（每年约30人）2）参加以STEM学科为目标的项目的亚拉巴马大学本科生（亚拉巴马路易斯斯托克斯联盟少数民族参与学生;每年700-800）3）化学和生物学毕业生从整个亚拉巴马机构。我们提出的PREP计划将为那些需要加强进入博士教育资格的学生提供机会。我们的总体目标是每年招收10名学生，并为他们提供高质量的研究经验，在NIH资助的导师的实验室和学术丰富的机会，使他们有竞争力进入顶尖NIH资助的机构的生物医学研究生课程。学生将与导师合作开发一个要求严格的研究项目，该项目将导致至少一个出版物;每个学生80%或更多的时间将用于完成这个研究项目。还将为每个学生设计个人发展计划（IDP），以解决可能影响未来研究生学业成功的任何学术弱点。IDP还将提供活动，以加强写作和定量技能，提供职业信息，发展演讲技巧，讨论研究道德，并在科学会议上与同行建立网络。学生朝着实现他们的IDP目标的进展将每季度进行监测。我们预计，在UAB建立PREP学者计划将增加少数民族申请人的数量，他们为进入美国顶级博士课程做好了充分准备。 为了建立一支多元化的劳动力队伍，位于伯明翰的亚拉巴马大学（UAB）将从生物医学研究中代表性不足的群体中确定并培养10名学生，进行一系列培训和学术经验，为他们进入美国顶级博士研究生课程做好准备。这些已经获得学士学位的学生将与NIH配对-资助UAB的教师，他们将指导这些学员，并提供生物医学科学的高质量研究经验。个人发展计划将根据每个学生的需求量身定制，以确定具体的活动，为他们在博士研究中取得成功做好准备，包括学术充实，科学写作，定量技能发展，演讲技巧，研究道德，职业指导和季度进展评估。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) is a comprehensive research university and medical complex with $192 million of NIH-funded research. UAB has a strong commitment to training undergraduate and graduate students from diverse backgrounds, including underrepresented minorities and students from disadvantaged backgrounds. UAB has established and supported several programs to help these students meet their educational and career goals. What UAB currently lacks is a means to provide opportunity to potential graduate students who make a decision to pursue doctoral education late in their undergraduate career. These students may have already attained their baccalaureate degrees, but do not have the credentials for entry into top biomedical graduate programs where prior research experience and high standardized test scores are essential criteria for admittance. We have identified several potential pools from which to recruit such students: 1) Minority students who apply to one of our biomedical doctoral programs, but who are not offered admission due to low GRE scores or no research experience (about 30 per year) 2) Alabama undergraduate students who participate in programs aimed at STEM disciplines (Alabama Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation students; 700-800 per year) 3) Graduates in Chemistry and Biology from institutions throughout Alabama. Our proposed PREP program will provide opportunities to those students who need to strengthen their credentials for entry into doctoral education. Our overall goal is to recruit 10 students per year and to provide them a high quality research experience in the laboratories of NIH-funded mentors and academic enrichment opportunities to equip them to be competitive for entry into biomedical graduate programs at top NIH-funded institutions. The students will work with mentors to develop a demanding research project that will lead to at least one publication; 80% or more of each student's time will be devoted to completing this research project. An individual development plan (IDP) will also be designed for each student, to address any academic weaknesses that might affect success in future graduate attainment. The IDP will also provide activities to strengthen writing and quantitative skills, provide career information, develop presentation skills, discuss research ethics, and network with peers at scientific meetings. Student progress toward meeting the goals of their IDP will be monitored quarterly. We expect that establishing a PREP Scholars program at UAB will increase the number of minority applicants who are well prepared for entry into top doctoral programs across the US. To build a diverse work force, the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) will identify and prepare 10 students from groups underrepresented in biomedical research for a series of training and academic experiences to prepare them for entry into top doctoral graduate programs in the U.S. These students who will already have earned a baccalaureate degree will be paired with NIH-funded faculty members at UAB who will mentor these trainees and provide high quality research experiences in biomedical sciences. Individual development plans will be tailored to each student's needs, to identify specific activities to prepare them for success in doctoral study, including academic enrichment, scientific writing, quantitative skills development, presentation skills, ethics in research, career mentoring, and quarterly assessment of progress.