T-COHR: Summer Undergraduate Research Program

项目描述（由申请人提供）：本项目主要目的是为六名口腔和颅面健康与疾病领域的优秀大学生提供短期（10周）的研究培训经验。长期目标是通过接触该领域广泛的研究活动所产生的兴趣，增加攻读口腔、牙科和颅面生物学高级学位和研究培训的学生人数。项目教师的选择是基于他们在牙周病、口腔传染病、颅面发育、口腔癌生物学和口腔微生物学领域的积极研究项目。一些教师还从事临床和社区口腔健康研究，研究严重影响非裔美国人的口腔系统疾病，包括口腔癌、牙周病、幼儿龋齿和慢性疾病（如肥胖和糖尿病）的口腔疾病负担。该课程的学生将密切参与其中一个参与实验室的正在进行的项目。他们将接触到进行与口腔健康和疾病相关的基础和临床研究的重要方面。学生还将参加一系列研讨会，以生物学研究的前沿主题为特色，特别关注与口腔和颅面生物学相关的主题。此外，该系列研讨会将提供实验室安全和负责任的研究行为的基本知识基础。拟议的培训计划还将使学生接触到尖端的临床牙科、诊断学和以患者为导向的研究。在培训结束时，学生们将准备一份书面论文，并就他们的项目向同学、导师、研究生和博士后发表口头报告。他们将被鼓励在11月回到校园，在全校的年度研究日上展示他们的研究成果。该项目将在每年年底采用定性和定量相结合的方法进行评估，包括对申请人数据和招聘方法的分析，对学生的离职面谈和调查，以及导师的正式和非正式反馈。此外，学生的职业选择和进步将被跟踪至少10年，每年与参与者联系。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The primary objective of this program is to provide short-term (10 weeks) research training experience for six talented college undergraduate students in the area of oral and craniofacial health and disease. The long- range goal is to increase the number of such students pursuing advanced degree(s) and research training in oral, dental and craniofacial biology through the interest generated by exposure to a broad spectrum of research activities in this area. The Program Faculty have been selected on the basis of their active research programs in the areas of periodontal diseases, oral infectious diseases, craniofacial development, oral cancer biology and oral microbiology. Some faculty also engage in clinical and community-based oral health research on oral-systemic diseases that disproportionately affect African Americans, including oral cancer, periodontal diseases, early childhood caries and the oral disease burden of chronic diseases such as obesity and diabetes. Students in the program will become intimately involved in ongoing projects in one of the participating laboratories. They will be exposed to essential aspects of conducting basic and clinical research related to oral health and disease. Students also will participate in a seminar series that features cutting-edge topics in biological research with a specific focus on topics related to oral and craniofacial biology. In addition, the seminar series will provide a fundamental knowledge base in laboratory safety and responsible conduct of research. The proposed training program also will expose the students to cutting-edge clinical dentistry, diagnostics and patient-oriented research. At the conclusion of the training period, the students will prepare a written paper and give an oral presentation on their project to an audience of fellow students, mentors, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. They will be encouraged to return to campus in November to present their research at a university-wide annual research day. The program will be evaluated at the end of each year using a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches, including analysis of the applicant pool data and recruitment methods, exit interviews and surveys with the students, and formal and informal feedback from the mentors. Additionally, students' career choices and progress will be tracked for a minimum of 10 years by yearly contact with the participants.