Research Project
10146173
Abstract: The overall goal of the MBRS-RISE program is to increase the interest, skills, and competitiveness of students and faculty in pursuit of biomedical research careers. The goal of our proposed RISE program is to increase significantly the number of minority students pursuing biomedical careers by involving them in a number of curricular, research and co-curricular activities. SFSU enrolls large numbers of underrepresented minority students, with strong enrollment in each major ethnic category, and has an outstanding record of awarding significant numbers of baccalaureate and Masters degrees to minority students. A significant number have gone on to enter biomedical research at the bachelor?s, master?s and doctoral level. While many earn PhD degrees, others enter medical, dental, and veterinary schools and later participate in clinical research. San Francisco State University (SFSU) has a proven commitment to preparing under represented students for PhD programs and biomedical careers and has developed a number of federally funded minority enhancement programs in the biomedical sciences. We have identified and addressed a number of barriers, which these undergraduate and graduate minority students face in meeting their goals for a future in the biomedical sciences. Continued funding of the MBRS RISE program at SFSU will allow us, in combination with our other funded programs (e.g. MARC, MS/PhD Bridge, SCORE, RIMI, SFSU/UCSF Cancer Center Collaborative), to provide the type of infrastructure and activities necessary to help significant numbers of students overcome these barriers. A set of well-defined and logically ordered activities has been developed to meet the specific needs of students at various stages of their careers (upper-division Research-Active and Masters degree students). Each activity addresses: 1) achievement of academic program, 2) academic performance, 3) development of scientific and research skills and abilities, 4) preparation for acceptance to a PhD program. The outcomes of these activities will be critically evaluated by SageFox Associates. The MBRS- RISE program at San Francisco State University is in the fourth year of our third 5-year cycle. Based on the successful placement of 137 RISE students (BS + MS) into PhD programs and 89 past of these RISE students completing PhD degrees (27 BS + 62 MS) over the past 2 and current cycles, we consider the program to be highly successful. In this application, we propose to expand the number of MS students from 20 to 30/year on the RISE grant. Given the success of our MS students, we have a growing number of mentors both at SFSU and at the University of California San Francisco interested in mentoring our RISE students in their research laboratories to conduct MS thesis research. The inclusion of additional high quality biomedical research mentors from UCSF in the past has developed into a strong and productive partnership. The experienced leadership team along with the 55 faculty research mentors from UCSF and SFSU assure a high quality research education program for our RISE students.
