Bridges to the Baccalaureate Research Training Program at Kansas State University - Kansas State University and three community college partners from southwest Kansas; Dodge City Community College, Garden City Community College, and Seward County Community College, have had a thriving Kansas Bridges to the Future partnership during the past sixteen years. With the recent change in the funding mechanism from an R25 to a T34, this new program proposal is seeking NIH support for a new five- year grant cycle in order to recruit talented individuals with unique perspectives and experiences to the biomedical workforce. To date, 143 students from first generation have benefited from the Kansas State University Bridges to the Baccalaureate training program and at least 39 have pursued advanced research degrees or entered professional health programs. This proposal shows solid support from all four colleges to maintain a critical and successful pathway for Bridges students to enter the university: 1) by building relationships with the students and their families while at the community colleges; 2) by bringing students and their families to K-State to help them become familiar with the larger campus, the support staff, and previously matriculated Bridges students; 3) by providing an established, highly successful undergraduate research program, the Developing Scholars Program, to support them academically and personally; and 4) by providing seminars, workshops, lab experiences, and research internships to help students explore their options in STEM disciplines for biomedical careers. Through the Bridges program, students are prepared to succeed in graduate and professional programs, and to establish thriving professional careers. Kansas State University will continue to provide 100% tuition for 2 years of study at the university, thus removing cost-related barriers that are often insurmountable for students. Each of the community colleges will also continue to provide tuition scholarships to Bridges students to complete their associate degrees. The overall goal of this project is to provide biomedical research training and mentoring in order to increase the number of students with baccalaureate degrees in STEM disciplines for future careers in the biomedical, clinical, behavioral and social sciences. Further, this project will support the goals of the National Institutes of Health for enhancing public trust, solving complex problems, addressing challenges in biomedical research, and ensure a pool of highly trained biomedical scientists.
