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The-APS.org > APS Education Online > Minority Programs > Educational Programs |
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Educational Programs The APS sponsors several programs which are targeted and/or include a strong focus on increasing diversity in biomedicine and/or improving K-12 science education for minority students. Links for these programs are provided below. Professional Skills for Minority Students in Biomedicine: Interactive and Online Development Tools<NEW> The Professional Skills Project, supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), seeks to promote the development of key professional skills among minority graduate and postdoctoral students in biomedicine by creating effective live, online, CD-ROM short courses. APS/NIDDK Minority Travel Fellowship Program The goal of this program, supported by the National Institute for Diabetes, and Digestive and Kidney Disorders (NIDDK), is to encourage minority students to pursue professional careers in the physiological/biomedical sciences. Specifically, the program provides travel fellowships to undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral minority students and faculty at minority institutions to attend the APS meetings (Experimental Biology and the APS Conferences). However, the Fellowship is not simply reimbursement of travel expenses. It is designed to enrich the meeting experience and to build connections between and among minority students and experienced physiologists. Explorations in Biomedicine Program The overall goal of Explorations is to strengthen the science education programs at Native American-serving educational institutions in Montana and, consequently, to increase student interest in and access to biomedical research careers. The program includes summer research fellowships for tribal college faculty and middle and high school teachers at schools serving Native American students, weekend retreats and one-day workshops for science educators, and travel and summer research fellowships for undergraduate Native American students. The program is supported by a grant for the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS). Porter Physiology Development Program To support minority students pursuing full-time studies toward a Ph.D. in the physiological sciences. First year graduate students are eligible to apply. The Porter Physiology Fellowship program focuses on encouraging diversity among students pursuing full-time studies toward the Ph.D. (or D.Sc.) in the physiological sciences by providing 1-2 year fellowships to minority students. Awards have been made to more than 80 fellows since 1967. Support for the program is provided by the APS and the William Townsend Porter Fellowship. Monitoring the Status of Minority Physiologists The APS actively monitors the participation of minority students in physiology degree programs, primarily graduate programs, and the participation of minorities in both its membership and in physiology careers. Through annual surveys of students receiving doctoral degrees in physiology and utilizing existing national databases, the APS develops reports and statistics on the overall production of new physiologists, the postdoctoral experiences of new graduates, and the status of physiologists in basic science and clinical departments in medical schools. Promoting Effective Program Evaluation The APS developed materials and workshops to assist NIGMS-sponsored minority recruitment and retention programs (MARC, MBRS, and Bridges) to improve their programs through the use of program evaluation. Specifically, the program helped project directors to significantly improve their understanding of the benefits of program evaluation and the pro’s and con’s of internal and external evaluations as well as their skills in developing and implementing both formative and summative evaluation plans. The project produced both online and CD-ROM versions of an evaluation planning document that includes the project’s goals, measurable objectives, activities, and description. They also include resources such as links to evaluation websites, guides for finding and interviewing an external evaluator, and budget planning spreadsheets. The online course is provided as a free resource at the APS website, a CD-ROM course and a free online course. The project was sponsored by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS). APS Career Web The APS Career Web provides an array of resources for students at different grade levels who are interested in exploring careers in physiology. Appropriate resources are provided for students at the elementary, middle/high school, undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral levels. Resources sections are also provided for new investigators, established investigators, and the general public. For graduate students, the site provides information on career resources (both at the APS site and at dozens of other web sites), fellowships and awards, meetings, biographies of diverse physiologists, positions available, and links to the institution). In addition to the types of resources listed above, at each educational level, additional resources are provided for minority students and scientists on "Minority Resources" page. These pages do not reiterate the other resources but, rather, provide additional resources and links of particular interest to minority students and their mentors (e.g., links to the organizations, programs, fellowships/scholarships, resources for educators, links to minority scientist biographies, etc.). APS Undergraduate Summer Research Program Recognizing the importance of undergraduate research experience to a later career in physiology research, in 2000 the APS initiated new summer research fellowships for undergraduate students. These fellowships support full-time undergraduate students to work in the laboratory of an established physiologists. The intent of the program is to excite and encourage students to pursue a career as a basic research scientist. Although this is not a program targeted specifically for minority students, it was developed in line with APS’ overall diversity efforts. Therefore, recruitment includes a focus on reaching minority students who may be interested in a research career (e.g., via MARC, MBRS, and Bridges programs) and in encouraging the selection of diverse students for the fellowship. As a result, of the 36 fellows selected in the first three years of the program, 9 (25%) are from minority groups underrepresented in science. As the APS’ newest fellowship program, it was especially encouraging that, from the inception, the design of the program and the plan for publicity allowed it to attract a significant number of minority applicants. Frontiers in Physiology Program Since 1990, APS has offered summer research fellowships for middle and high school science teachers. Over more than a decade, the program has evolved and expanded into a highly effective, nationwide program, involving middle and high school science teachers in effective professional development activities, including:
The program is unique among professional development programs in its consistent outreach to minority teachers and teachers of minority students. Starting in 1995, targeted efforts were made annually to increase the number of minority teachers and teachers of minority students applying to the program. From 1993-2002, nearly half (48%) of the teachers in the program annually, on average, have been from schools where well over 50% of the student body was from a racial/ethnic minority group underrepresented in science careers. In that same time period, on average 29% of the teachers in the program annually were from racial/ethnic minority groups. The program’s strong emphasis on equity and diversity issues and on building connections with local researchers has attracted significant numbers of minority teacher applicants to the program. In addition to individual fellowships, the program also offers training and support for grassroots teams of biomedical researchers and K-12 teachers to offer professional development workshops and materials to local science teachers. Nearly 30 teams, nationwide, have offered workshops for teachers and/or activities for students. |
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