New veterinary medicine program helps prep undergrads for research careers

8/4/2016 |

What began as a proposal to Purdue’s Diversity Leadership Team is now an up-and-running pilot program in the College of Veterinary Medicine! In November, a proposal submitted by a Purdue Veterinary Medicine team led by Associate Professor of Basic Medical Sciences Susan Mendrysa and Assistant Professor of Basic Medical Sciences Marxa Figueiredo was one of nine initiatives selected to receive funding through Purdue University’s Diversity Transformation Award (DTA) program. The program, “Post-Baccalaureate Research Education Program for Biomedical Sciences” (PREP), which officially began on June 6, aims to give students who have earned their undergraduate degree the opportunity to experience and participate in activities similar to those of a typical graduate student.

The pilot PREP initiative received DTA funding, which is being supplemented by support from the College of Veterinary Medicine, to enable five recent college graduates from groups historically underrepresented in biomedical sciences to participate in a year-long research experience and to prepare for applying to PhD or MD-PhD programs in the biomedical sciences. Janiel Ahkin Chin-Tai from Florida International University, Tecarla Ikard from Fayetteville State University, Danté Johnson from Louisiana State University, Cosette Rivera-Cruz from the University of Puerto Rico – Cayey, and Taylor Smith from Tuskegee University, have joined laboratories in the Departments of Basic Medical Sciences and Comparative Pathobiology as part of the PREP program. Each participant will spend the year working with a faculty member on a project in their research lab. Dr. Mendrysa says that in the fall, Director of the Office for Diversity and Inclusion Kauline Cipriani will implement a mentor training program to help mentors become more aware of issues students from different backgrounds face.

One of the most important components of the PREP program is the full-year of research experience according to Dr. Mendrysa. All of the PREP participants have had previous research experience on short-term projects. “The challenge with most short-term research projects, or projects that students may try to do while also completing all of their other school requirements during the academic year, is that you don’t really get a sense of what it’s like to develop a project from the beginning and work through the ups and downs to move it forward,” says Dr. Mendrysa. “That’s what’s nice about this program—it allows students a full year of focused research in a single research lab. They’re able to start out with a project and develop the project over the course of a year as their primary focus of the PREP program.”

Dr. Mendrysa says PREP also contains components designed to prepare the participants for graduate programs in the field of biomedical sciences. One of those components involves learning about scientific communication. “We’re starting to work on writing scientific abstracts, creating poster presentations, and later on we’ll work on oral presentations. Many of those same skills that are important for communicating science effectively will be important for them as they develop their graduate applications,” says Dr. Mendrysa. The participants have already participated in two poster sessions, displaying their work at the end of July alongside the participants in the PVM Summer Research Scholars Program and the Purdue Graduate School Summer Research Opportunity Program (SROP).

Dr. Mendrysa also explained that PREP participants have the opportunity to take one upper level undergraduate or a graduate level course in the fall and spring semesters. “While we want the emphasis to be on research, many of these students may not have had many opportunities to take upper-level courses and we want them to be able to challenge themselves in a more rigorous course. This will be a component of grad school—you’re now expected to do research, as well as take several upper-level courses simultaneously,” says Dr. Mendrysa. “This is an opportunity for them to test themselves in a more challenging course, or if they have a gap in their undergraduate coursework, they can fill that now.”

While the PREP participants are only two months into the program, Dr. Mendrysa says that all of them appear to feel at home in their research labs. Noting that funding from the DTA and College of Veterinary Medicine will only support one year of the pilot PREP program, Dr. Mendrysa says that starting at the end of this month the team will begin developing a proposal to secure funding for a five-year program. She added, the team hopes to receive funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), since the program is modeled after an existing structure of a program that NIH supports. Dr. Mendrysa hopes to see the program create a steady supply of exceptional PhD students in the field, achieve a critical mass of underrepresented minorities in graduate/postdoctoral positions, enhance retention through culturally-relevant mentorship, and transform Purdue’s climate for diversity to one that is better aligned with Purdue’s cultural values.

Dr. Figueiredo says that it’s a really exciting opportunity for the College to host this program. “It’s a chance for a few students to experience graduate school before they take the leap– they can test the waters. They’re also going to be much stronger after the program, since we’re committed to their success,” says Dr. Figueiredo. “I think that they’re going to be very successful and they’re also going to give the Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine good and positive exposure. It’s an opportunity to make programs more diverse on campus.”

The DTA awards were created by the Purdue University Office of the Provost to enhance recruitment, enrollment, and retention of underrepresented minority (URM) students, faculty and staff, and to study factors affecting inclusiveness and success of URM students and faculty. Sixty-six faculty teams responded to the call for proposals and $1 million in funding is supporting the nine DTA initiatives selected. Click here to view a complete news release about the Diversity Transformation Award recipients, which includes links to presentations that were given during round two of the selection process.

– Kelsey Johnson, http://bit.ly/2cadYu3