Thursday, April 3, 2025
4/3/2025
The Mississippi ESTEEMED Scholars Program - Project Summary The Mississippi ESTEEMED Scholars Program is designed to promote equitable outcomes for undergraduates in bioengineering/STEM fields who come from underrepresented backgrounds. Mississippi has the highest poverty rate in the nation and grapples with educational challenges, including having most of the state designated as a critical needs area for mathematics and science education. Thus, the pathway to a biomedical engineering career is challenging. To help address these issues, we propose the ESTEEMED program to facilitate the success of incoming freshmen students pursuing biomedical engineering (BME). The program focuses on supporting BME curriculum preparation and building scientific identity, ensuring that students, particularly those from underrepresented backgrounds, are well-equipped to navigate the demanding curriculum and persist through to graduate STEM careers The long-term goal is to train the next generation of scientists that will transform understanding of disease prevention, detection, diagnosis, and treatment through engineering and diversify the biomedical workforce. Transitional programming designed to increase recruitment, retention, and research success of young scholars affiliated with the University of Mississippi will increase the preparedness of future doctoral degree applicants in fields like bioengineering and bioimaging. The program includes a summer bridge that transitions students from high school into the University of Mississippi. They will get a head start on coursework, be trained in responsible conduct of research and laboratory safety, be introduced to foundations of electronics, conduct 3D printing, and be exposed to scientific equipment across numerous facilities. During the academic year, mentorship meetings with program leaders will occur, and individual development plans will be utilized to plot a course towards a career trajectory in STEM for the students. Supplemental self-paced computer programming training will be provided to enhance the preparedness for future coursework, projects, and careers. In addition, students will choose from numerous local research mentors who run independent laboratories that span fields in biomedical engineering, bioimaging, biology, chemistry, physics, and pharmacology. In their second summer, students will receive support to apply to work in external laboratories with highly specialized skills. In addition, during the academic year, students will have the opportunity to interact directly with successful scientists and engineers in multiple engaging formats. Training will be provided to support student presentations of their own laboratory projects to visiting scholars and at local symposia/regional conferences. Finally, this program will support students to transition into an honors program on campus for their junior/senior years to continue their trajectory toward graduate school in STEM fields.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).