Strategies for diversifying the pool of graduate students in biomedical sciences

Gloria D. Coronado, Michele Shuster, Angie Ulrich, Jennifer Anderson, Helena Loest

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

As part of our National Cancer Institute-sponsored partnership between New Mexico State University and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, we implemented the cancer research internship for undergraduate students to expand the pipeline of underrepresented students who can conduct cancer-related research. A total of 21 students participated in the program from 2008 to 2011. Students were generally of senior standing (47 %), female (90 %), and Hispanic (85 %). We present a logic model to describe the short-, medium-, and long-term outputs of the program. Comparisons of pre- and post-internship surveys showed significant improvements in short-term outputs including interest (p<0.001) and motivation (p<0.001) to attend graduate school, as well as preparedness to conduct research (p=0.01) and write a personal statement (p=0.04). Thirteen students were successfully tracked, and of the nine who had earned a bachelor's degree, six were admitted into a graduate program (67 %), and four of these programs were in the biomedical sciences.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)436-442
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Cancer Education
Volume27
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2012
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The program is supported by grants from the National Cancer Institute: 5 U54 CA132381 (FHCRC) and 5 U54 CA132383 (NMSU). The Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) Program at NMSU also provided financial support for students.

Keywords

  • Internship
  • Minority studabents
  • Undergraduate training program

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