PUMAS - A Pipeline program for comMUnity college students Advancing in the Sciences

J. David Gladstone Institutes, San Francisco CA

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Abstract

Project Title PUMAS - A Pipeline program for comMUnity college students Advancing in the Sciences Abstract The goal of our program, PUMAS - a pipeline program for community college students advancing in the sciences, is to increase the number of community college students that are well-trained in biomedical research and encourage them to join the biomedical workforce. We propose to do this by offering twelve summer research opportunities in Gladstone labs to community college students. When students gain first-hand experience in state-of-the-art labs such as those at Gladstone Institutes, they are more prepared for success in their pursuit of science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM) degrees when they transfer to a four-year institution, and are more likely to pursue advanced degrees in biomedical research. For nine weeks each summer, the PUMAS participants are paired with a scientific mentor at Gladstone to work on a specific research project in a number of biomedical fields such as cardiovascular diseases and pulmonary diseases. They spend 75% of their time conducting biomedical research, including independent research activities, receiving one-on-one mentoring, and attending laboratory meetings, scientific lectures, seminars and journal clubs. They spend the other 25% of their time participating in supplementary educational activities, which include a week-long biotech boot-camp and a series of professional development workshops geared to inspire students and develop them as scientists, better prepared to pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in the sciences. The PUMAS program culminates with a poster session in which students describe their research, hypotheses and findings to the scientific community at Gladstone, allowing them to increase their confidence as scientists and gain further connections in their research network. The PUMAS program recruits’ students who are currently enrolled in a community college, have successfully completed at least two semesters of college-level science courses with a lab component (chemistry and molecular biology preferred, but not required), and who intend to transfer to a four-year institution to pursue a baccalaureate degree in STEM. We do this primarily by marketing the PUMAS program to 27 community colleges in the Bay Area through their science professors and directors of programs like Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA). We also do wider outreach via webinars, podcasts, and career fairs to reach community college students with a strong STEM interest. We chose to focus on community college students because they might be often overlooked and community colleges might not have the state-of the art biomedical infrastructure.Â