Richard Allen - US grants

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): As the face of the United States becomes more diverse, it is imperative that institutions of higher education increase the number of PhDs awarded to students who are members of underrepresented minority groups. The University of Colorado at Denver (UC-Denver) is committed to this goal and is in an excellent position to enhance and intensify its training of undergraduate students to foster diversity not only in the PhD workforce in higher education, but also in research beyond the University setting. This MARC U*STAR program application supports these efforts by providing intensive interdisciplinary curricular and research training for 25 URM students during the last two years of their undergraduate education that will enable them to enter PhD programs in basic and applied behavioral science and pursue research careers in these fields. The regional and local demographics of UC Denver along with the rapid expansion of research in the behavioral sciences and an already thriving undergraduate program provide a strong foundation for building the proposed MARC U*STAR Scholars program in behavioral sciences. The proposed program features a new series of courses in the methodology and ethics of behavioral and health science research as well as on and off- campus research experiences that will provide the strong academic and experiential foundation necessary for students to gain entrance into and succeed in PhD programs. Importantly, these activities leverage other minority training programs at UC Denver to expand an institutional culture that supports the success of minority students and their entrance into graduate education in the sciences. The MARC program, which builds on existing interdisciplinary degree programs in Psychology and Public Health, enjoys strong institutional support and holds the potential to be transformational for the climate of diversity and inclusion at UC Denver.

PROJECT SUMMARY As the United States becomes more diverse, it is imperative that institutions of higher education accelerate their efforts to ensure equity in the number of doctoral degrees awarded to students who are members of underrepresented (UR) groups. The University of Colorado Denver (CU Denver) is committed to this goal, and uniquely situated culturally and geographically to meet this need. The CU Denver campus is consolidated with the Anschutz Medical Campus (Anschutz) and, together, is classified as a ?Doctoral University: Higher Research Activity?, with more than $400 million in annual sponsored research funding. As such, CU Denver is the only urban public research university in the State of Colorado, and it has the most diverse student body of any University of Colorado campus. In 2016, at least 34% of entering freshmen identified as underrepresented minority (URM) students and at least 57% as students of color. CU Denver was awarded its first MARC U-STAR award on May 22, 2013 (NIGMS T34 GM096958; 2013-2018), and is one of only two in the state. This competing renewal expands the successful initial development of the CU Denver MARC U-STAR program in several important ways. First, it broadens the focus of the first award (supporting students in the biomedical- oriented behavioral sciences) to the biomedical sciences more broadly by providing 24-month support to 40 additional rising junior undergraduates (eight new scholars per year) majoring in Integrative Biology, Chemistry, Psychology, and Public Health. Second, it expands and further institutionalizes a series of successful undergraduate Behavioral and Biomedical Research training courses, developed for the MARC program and taken by all MARC scholars, to accompany and facilitate their authentic research experiences. Third, it leverages and supports an institutionally-funded pre-MARC ?U-RISE? program, developed by the principal investigators and program staff, to identify and support freshman, sophomore, and transfer students with authentic research experiences that engage early interests in research careers. The CU Denver MARC program complements and extends other training programs at CU Denver and Anschutz, expanding an institutional culture that supports the success of UR students and their entrance into doctoral programs in the biomedical sciences. The new efforts described here, focused on expanding our initial successful work with recruitment and training of MARC scholars from the Psychology Department, and building the base of students interested in these opportunities, are complemented by a rigorous, external program evaluation that continuously assesses the effectiveness and relevance of our program activities, and includes intentional outcomes in program optimization and scholarly dissemination. The MARC program enjoys strong institutional support and has already helped transform the climate of diversity and inclusion at CU Denver. These efforts, together with an outstanding research environment and culture of support for diversity and inclusion, will help the CU Denver MARC U-STAR program continue to meet the overarching MARC program goal that 90% of supported students graduate with a STEM degree and at least 60% will matriculate into Ph.D. (or combined M.D./Ph.D.) programs in the biomedical sciences with a completion rate of at least 80%.

PROJECT SUMMARY As the United States becomes more diverse, it is imperative that institutions of higher education accelerate their efforts to ensure equity in the number of doctoral degrees awarded to students who are members of underrepresented (UR) groups. The University of Colorado Denver (CU Denver) is committed to this goal, and uniquely situated culturally and geographically to meet this need. The CU Denver campus is consolidated with the Anschutz Medical Campus (Anschutz) and, together, is classified as a ?Doctoral University: Higher Research Activity?, with more than $400 million in annual sponsored research funding. As such, CU Denver is the only urban public research university in the State of Colorado, and it has the most diverse student body of any University of Colorado campus. In 2016, at least 34% of entering freshmen identified as underrepresented minority (URM) students and at least 57% as students of color. CU Denver was awarded its first MARC U-STAR award on May 22, 2013 (NIGMS T34 GM096958; 2013-2018), and is one of only two in the state. CU Denver was awarded a competing renewal in 2016. The renewal expanded the successful initial development of the CU Denver MARC U-STAR program to support 20 additional rising junior undergraduates (four new scholars per year) majoring in Integrative Biology, Chemistry, Psychology, and Public Health. The CU Denver MARC program complements and extends other training programs at CU Denver and Anschutz, expanding an institutional culture that supports the success of UR students and their entrance into doctoral programs in the biomedical sciences. One unique aspect of the CU Denver MARC U-STAR program is a partnership with the CU Denver Clinical Health Psychology (CHP) program. Through this partnership, we have retained an advanced CHP doctoral student to serve as a wellness point-person for our scholars. This doctoral level student addresses threats to wellness and resiliency on multiple levels using preventative, in- vivo, and follow-up communication aimed at detecting scholar distress and building adaptive copings skills to mitigate distress for our scholars. This supplement aims to adapt this evidence-based program to be more culturally-responsive through a formative needs assessment (barriers impacting scholars, supports needed, self-advocacy skill development) and integration of new learning with the wellness and resiliency program. Culturally-responsive wellness and resiliency training can provide minoritized scholars with knowledge and skills necessary to successfully navigate academic adversity and discrimination with self-advocacy and resilience. These efforts, together with outstanding academic and research training and a culture of support for diversity and inclusion, will help the CU Denver MARC U-STAR program continue to meet the overarching MARC program goal that at least 90% of supported students graduate with a STEM degree and at least 60% matriculate into Ph.D. (or combined M.D./Ph.D.) programs in the biomedical sciences with a doctoral completion rate of at least 80%.