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The objective of this part of the program is to demonstrate to students that science
is a highly rewarding career, both personally and economically. Students will gain
scientific training, including instruction on experimental planning, collection
of data, and interpretation of results. In addition, students will gain self confidence
regarding potential success as scientists. Mentors will encourage students to join
a Ph.D. program upon graduation. Scholars will participate in a hands-on, bench
research project. They will be exposed to common laboratory techniques depending
on the project that they are involved in. Students will be trained to perform experiments
under the supervision of their mentors and laboratory personnel. Students will be
taught how to plan and execute an experiment, including the use of appropriate controls.
Upon completion of the experiment, students will be educated in data analysis, including
statistics and presentation (oral and written). Students are expected to actively
participate in laboratory activities, including, but not limited to, group meetings
and journal clubs. Upon the appropriate training, students are responsible for their
own project under the supervision of the mentor. It will be desirable, but not necessary,
that a presentation at a national meeting and/or publication will emerge from the
student project. Travel expenses for the student will be covered. Students will
receive compensation for their work, calculated on 15 hours/week during the academic
year and 40 hours/week during summer (12 weeks). Sophomore and junior students can
join the program at any time during the year. Rising seniors will only be admitted
to the program a year prior to graduation. Senior students are expected take a BMS
graduate course. Up to 40 students will be supported per year, with an average of
12 scholars per academic level (sophomores, juniors, and seniors). The length of
the program for each student will depend on the time of admission and graduation.
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Selection of a Mentor-Research Laboratory
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Students that participate in the summer program will be exposed to research-mentor
laboratories through a series of seminars each week. Participating faculty will
talk to the students about their research goals in a concise 15 minute presentation,
followed by a question and answer session. These seminars will also be open to other
students that are not participating in the summer program. A list of mentors-research
laboratories will be provided to each student. Students will be instructed to search
for potential laboratories by browsing through the BMS website (http://biomedsci.ucsd.edu).
This is a valuable resource, which is used by BMS first year graduate students to
search for potential rotations. In addition, each department has its own web page
with research information. Students will be advised to select three potential laboratories.
In conjunction with the student coordinator, meetings with potential mentors will
be scheduled. Finally, students will meet with the Program Director, Dr. De Maio,
to select the most appropriate environment. Dr. De Maio has extensive experience
in this process, because he was the rotation coordinator of a graduate program at
Johns Hopkins University for several years. The research-mentor laboratory experience
is thought of as a dynamic process. Students have complete freedom to stay in the
same laboratory for the whole program or move to different laboratories to increase
their exposure to science. A minimum of six months in a research-mentor laboratory
is required, unless an unpredictable circumstance requires a student to change labs
before the end of the six-month minimum time period.
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Selection of Mentors for the Program
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The selection of faculty to be research mentors is based on several criteria:
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- Interest in participating in the IMSD program.
- Excellent training record. Interested faculty are evaluated on their past training
record regarding undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral fellows. Particular attention
is paid to the post-training record of the trainees. A small number of junior faculty
with little training experience will be included in the program, since this is an
excellent opportunity for them to develop their mentoring skills. We envision this
program as a dual educational enterprise for both students and mentors.
- High level of funding. An important component in the training of students is to
prepare them to write grants. Well-funded laboratories will provide the right environment
to accomplish this objective.
- Outstanding level of publications. An important objective of the program is to place
students in productive laboratories. It is expected that laboratories with a good
number of high-impact publications will be the best environment to guarantee the
success of the student.
- Commitment to train URM students. This commitment will be measured using different
parameters, such as past-training of URM students, participation in the recruitment
of URM students, involvement in URM related activities, and, for those that have
no prior experience, a demonstrated interest in participating.
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