Monday, December 30, 2024
12/30/2024
Binghamton University (BU) plans to continue the successful relationships with Monroe Community College (MCC), Onondaga Community College (OCC) and Westchester Community College (WCC) in the Upstate Bridges to the Baccalaureate Program. Our past R25 Bridges Program has under-represented (UR) student transfer (93%) and baccalaureate degree completion rates (89%) that are much greater than the national (31.5% transfer rate; 46% degree completion) and New York State degree completion rates (60.2% overall and 38% for UR). Our long-term success is based on a partnership that successfully prepares UR students to participate in the biomedical educational and research enterprise. However, we will improve our success with activities outlined in the following Aims: Aim 1 will focus on recruiting and engaging UR undergraduate students with an interest in biomedical science research at our partner community colleges (CCs) and who are interested in transferring to BU to obtain a 4-year biomedically-related science degree. Bridges Scholars at the CCs will participate in specialized workshops focusing on scientific career choices, peer mentoring, and community engagement. Scholars will also be introduced to online international scientific communities for diverse scholars in their chosen disciplines to build their science identities. In addition, implementing supplementary math and science skills development and CURE-based courses at our partner schools will be supported to improve performance in those courses. Aim 2 builds upon scientific literacy to promote confidence in scientific ability in early-stage UR transfer scholars that will foster persistence in biomedical science education and encourage biomedical career choice. Incoming transfer Bridges Scholars to BU will engage in a summer scientific boot camp, followed by rotations in research laboratories to promote an interest in rigorous biomedical research. At BU, scholars will enroll in a Culture of Science course that will include instruction on research ethics, scientific communication, and community outreach. Scholars will engage in meaningful outreach activities to support their cultural identities and development as citizen scientists. The last step in Aim 3 will support advanced science education and professionalism to reinforce the proportion of Bridges Scholars who obtain baccalaureate degrees in the biomedical sciences at BU. All Bridges transfer Scholars will participate in intensive academic year and summer research experiences in state-of-the-art laboratories at BU with research-active faculty mentors who have experience training diverse scholars. This level of research engagement will enable scholars to develop novel independent research projects that can be presented at national scientific conferences. These synergistic empirically-validated activities across the CCs and BU will increase the success rate and preparedness of UR students for biomedical research careers.
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).