TY - JOUR
T1 - An entrepreneurial training model to enhance undergraduate training in biomedical research
AU - Kamangar, Farin
AU - Silver, Gillian
AU - Hohmann, Christine
AU - Hughes-Darden, Cleo
AU - Turner-Musa, Jocelyn
AU - Haines, Robert Trent
AU - Jackson, Avis
AU - Aguila, Nelson
AU - Sheikhattari, Payam
N1 - Funding Information:
Work reported in this publication was supported by the National Institutes of Health Common Fund and Office of Scientific Workforce Diversity (USA). Publication of this article was funded by the CEC Awards U54GM119024 and U54GM119024-03:S1 administered by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. Publication specifically for MSU ASCEND was supported by NIGMS under three linked awards RL5GM118972, and TL4GM118974. The work is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official view of the National Institutes of Health.
Funding Information:
ASCEND offers grant writing workshops, pilot research project grants, community-based participatory research grants, funds for travel to conferences, course redesign awards, statistical support, and mentoring workshops. Grant writing workshops are intended to familiarize junior faculty with the NIH grant writing process. ASCEND faculty and staff organize several of these workshops each year, on topics such as the principles of grant writing, writing specific aims for NIH grants, preparing budgets, preparing NIH biosketches, and revising proposals based on reviewer comments.
Funding Information:
To sustain resources for student research, MSU needs funds beyond the NIH BUILD grant period. With evidence of success, such funds may be acquired partly through further research grants, partly from MSU’s state budget funds, and partly through funds solicited from philanthropists. Enhancing research funds can be done by improving the faculty’s research competencies, strengthening MSU’s research infrastructure, enhancing a culture of research within MSU, and strengthening collaborations with research-intensive institutions. Fortunately, part of the mission of the BUILD grants, including ASCEND, is to make such enhancements to existing institutional resources.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 The Author(s).
PY - 2017/12/4
Y1 - 2017/12/4
N2 - Background: Undergraduate students who are interested in biomedical research typically work on a faculty member's research project, conduct one distinct task (e.g., running gels), and, step by step, enhance their skills. This "apprenticeship" model has been helpful in training many distinguished scientists over the years, but it has several potential drawbacks. For example, the students have limited autonomy, and may not understand the big picture, which may result in students giving up on their goals for a research career. Also, the model is costly and may greatly depend on a single mentor. Key highlights: The NIH Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity (BUILD) Initiative has been established to fund innovative undergraduate research training programs and support institutional and faculty development of the recipient university. The training model at Morgan State University (MSU), namely "A Student-Centered Entrepreneurship Development training model" (ASCEND), is one of the 10 NIH BUILD-funded programs, and offers a novel, experimental "entrepreneurial" training approach. In the ASCEND training model, the students take the lead. They own the research, understand the big picture, and experience the entire scope of the research process, which we hypothesize will lead to a greater sense of self-efficacy and research competency, as well as an enhanced sense of science identity. They are also immersed in environments with substantial peer support, where they can exchange research ideas and share experiences. This is important for underrepresented minority students who might have fewer role models and less peer support in conducting research. Implications: In this article, we describe the MSU ASCEND entrepreneurial training model's components, rationale, and history, and how it may enhance undergraduate training in biomedical research that may be of benefit to other institutions. We also discuss evaluation methods, possible sustainability solutions, and programmatic challenges that can affect all types of science training interventions.
AB - Background: Undergraduate students who are interested in biomedical research typically work on a faculty member's research project, conduct one distinct task (e.g., running gels), and, step by step, enhance their skills. This "apprenticeship" model has been helpful in training many distinguished scientists over the years, but it has several potential drawbacks. For example, the students have limited autonomy, and may not understand the big picture, which may result in students giving up on their goals for a research career. Also, the model is costly and may greatly depend on a single mentor. Key highlights: The NIH Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity (BUILD) Initiative has been established to fund innovative undergraduate research training programs and support institutional and faculty development of the recipient university. The training model at Morgan State University (MSU), namely "A Student-Centered Entrepreneurship Development training model" (ASCEND), is one of the 10 NIH BUILD-funded programs, and offers a novel, experimental "entrepreneurial" training approach. In the ASCEND training model, the students take the lead. They own the research, understand the big picture, and experience the entire scope of the research process, which we hypothesize will lead to a greater sense of self-efficacy and research competency, as well as an enhanced sense of science identity. They are also immersed in environments with substantial peer support, where they can exchange research ideas and share experiences. This is important for underrepresented minority students who might have fewer role models and less peer support in conducting research. Implications: In this article, we describe the MSU ASCEND entrepreneurial training model's components, rationale, and history, and how it may enhance undergraduate training in biomedical research that may be of benefit to other institutions. We also discuss evaluation methods, possible sustainability solutions, and programmatic challenges that can affect all types of science training interventions.
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U2 - 10.1186/s12919-017-0091-8
DO - 10.1186/s12919-017-0091-8
M3 - Article
C2 - 29375660
AN - SCOPUS:85037651092
SN - 1753-6561
VL - 11
JO - BMC Proceedings
JF - BMC Proceedings
M1 - 18
ER -