Performing Department
MOLECULAR CELL BIOLOGY
Non Technical Summary
Purpose: The San Joaquin Valley of California is among the nation's most disadvantaged regions, with among the lowest graduation rates and level of education, and highest poverty rates. The SJV is also among the most ethnically and racially diverse regions of California (and likely the nation). The primary purpose of our proposal is to maintain and enhance the excellent momentum established in the original cycle of our USDA HSI program at UC Merced by expanding the number and type of research training opportunities to the diverse population of students supported by UC Merced and our partner HSIs, CSU Stanislaus and UC Santa Cruz.Audience: Our programs target primarily students from traditionally underrepresented groups in STEM and those from social-economically disadvantaged backgrounds. In addition from positively impacting our scholars, we will also benefit local schools and their students through outreach opportunities as well as the community in general.Number of Scholars Benefiting: While we propose to financially support 15 undergraduate and 10 graduate scholars, the broader impacts will benefit all UROC scholars and regional students (over 300/yr).Products: Our principal products are well-trained undergraduate and graduate level scholars that will be highly qualified for academic or professional positions in agriculture-related disciplines. Other products include a large number of peer-reviewed publications, conference and meeting abstracts and proceedings, and new learning materials for our outreach efforts.Outcomes/Impacts: We expect 100% of our MS scholars to graduate and contribute to the diversity disparity in the STEM workforce especially within USDA. Based on the first iteration of our grant we expect the following to constitute most of our expected outcomes: (1) increased graduation rate of both undergraduate and graduate scholars compared to the non-scholars at each institution, (2) increased publications by both groups, (3) increased conference and meeting presentations, (4) increased number of awards and honors by both groups, (5) increased number of scholars pursuing agriculture-related careers, and (6) an opportunity to meet and discuss career opportunities with USDA representatives at meetings.
Animal Health Component
0%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
80%
Applied
20%
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
We will adhere to the primary goals of the USDA for this program, which are: (1) to attract and support undergraduate (UG) and graduate (GS) students from underrepresented groups in order to prepare them for careers related to the food, agricultural, and natural resources and human sciences of the United States,(2) to enhance the quality of post-secondary instruction within these disciplines, (3) to provide opportunities and access to food, agricultural, and natural resources and human sciences careers in the public and private sector, and (4) to align the efforts of HSIs and other non-profit organizations in support of the academic development and career attainment of URM groups.Our proposed program aims to develop the next generation of highly trained, GS in ag-related sciences. This will be accomplished by: (1) recruiting students from HSIs (CSUS, UCM, and UCSC) to participate in long-term, intensive research projects with participating faculty and USDA researchers, (2) providing scholars the opportunity to attend and present research at national conferences such SACNAS, which provide opportunities to UG researchers in STEM, and (3) incorporating practical ag-related themes into the curriculum of UCM STEM courses. This program will target the highly diverse UG population of the SJV, with the goal of increasing the representation of students from three HSIs (CSUS, UCM, and UCSC) and most notably students from URM groups into graduate programs related to the USDA need areas.
Project Methods
We will accomplish our goals and objectives by offering our USDA scholars many opportunities to enhance their training in ag-related sciences that includes: (1) extensive professional skills training including training in the responsible conduct of research, (2) experiential research learning, (3) opportunities to network and gain confidence by presenting at local and national meetings and conferences, (4) gaining exposure to USDA opportunities through an Ag Sciences Seminar series, and (5) participating in various outreach opportunities coordinated through our UC Cooperative Extension specialist in nutrition at UC Merced. Summer research opportunities will be available at multiple research sites including our USDA partner-site, the Western Human Nutrition Research Center at UC Davis, the Department of Nutrition at UC Davis, the Joint Genome Institute, and the partnering factulty at UC Merced in ag-related disciplines.The program inputs, outputs, and outcomes can be readily assessed and evaluated. We have secured the services of an external, professional evaluator, Dr. Patricia Campbell. Dr. Campbell will lead our efforts to provide project oversight and guidance in evaluation of the effectiveness of our program. The advisory board and Dr. Campbell will meet twice in person at UCM to discuss the program and provide their assessments to promote the programs goals and objectives. The initial meeting will be at the outset of the grant and prior to initiating any program elements to make sure we capture the guidance of the group. The next meeting will be in at the end of year 3, when we will have 3 years of data available for evaluation and assessment, and just prior to developing the next cycle of the grant. We will also coordinate two teleconferences in the even years to provide updates and get additional feedback. The scholar's attitudes, motivation, appreciation, and knowledge will be assessed by comparing their scores on pre- and post-program surveys to be developed with Dr. Campbell. Given Dr. Campbell's documented expertise and experience in this area, specific evaluation metrics will be developed with her consultation. Working with Dr. Campbell we will provide meta-evaluation.