Biological Sciences

Michigan Bridges to the Baccalaureate

I. Introduction

The path for community college (CC) students to the doctoral degree is a decade-long journey. By the time a Bridges to the Baccalaureate program connects with CC students, the interest or aspiration in science is already there. The challenge for Bridges is to channel a not yet clearly formulated general interest in science toward a vision of a career in biomedical or behavioral research. Fig. 1 outlines the steps may be taken toward a Ph.D. or other science doctoral degree in the biomedical or behavioral sciences.

Fig. 1 Overview of journey to the doctoral degree

Recruitment of underrepresented minority students at partner community colleges to the
Michigan Bridges to the Baccalaureate Program

Mentored research experience at centers of research excellence and transfer to B.S.-degree granting programs

B.S. Degree Granting Institution Tracking

Graduate School Tracking

Ph.D. or other science doctoral degree

III. Project Plan

A number of approaches which worked in the previous and the current grant cycle will be continued. Based on experience over the past five years with the WMU Bridges to the Baccalaureate, the now Michigan Bridges to the Baccalaureate Program (MBBP) will make two significant changes: the addition of Henry Ford CC (HFCC) from Dearborn MI to increase pool size; and, treat all five partner CCs as unique entities.

A. Background

Five Community Colleges will partner with Michigan Bridges

Table 10.: Under-represented minority (URM) student population data for 5 Partner Community Colleges of the Michigan Bridges to the Baccalaureate Program

Commu-nity Colleges	Afr- cen Am. No.	Afri-can Am. %	Na-tive Am.No.	Na-tive Am. %	Hispa-nic Am. No.	Hispa- nic Am. %	CC Total No.	URM Total No. at CCs	URM, % of total at CCs
GRCC*	1,221	8.8	113	0.8	551	4.0	13,877	1,885	13.6
KVCC*	829	8.0	76	0.9	247	2.4	10,413	1,152	11.1
KCC*	443	6.9	38	0.6	97	1.5	6,412	578	9.0
LMC*	680	19.0	20	0.5	102	2.8	3,586	802	22.4
HFCC**	2,649	21.6	74	0.6	527	4.3	12,243	3,250	26.5
Total	5,822	12.5	321	0.7	1,524	3.3	46,531	7,667	16.5

* Michigan Community Colleges Demographic Enrollment Profile, Michigan Department of Career Development, Community College Services Unit, February 2003

**Provided by HFCC Institutional Research, September 13, 2005

The addition of HFCC to the existing four partner CCs nearly doubles the size of the URM student population from which we will select Bridges RAs. HFCC was selected based on the recommendation of Dr. Daniel Waltz of Wayne State Medical School in Detroit. Dr. Waltz was PD of a CC to BS-degree Bridges Program which is no longer funded. Dr. Walz stated that of the two CCs he had in his Bridges Program, HFCC was far the best to work with. A site visit by the PD confirmed this recommendation. HFCC, established in 1936, has a beautiful campus with staff and faculty enthusiastic about reopening the Bridges Program at HFCC. HFCC has such an excellent reputation that many URM students come to HFCC from other CC districts and pay out of district tuition to attend. This suggests that MI Brides will have access to a highly motivated population of URM students. HFCC also has excellent pre-college science majors who go on to nearby University of Michigan -Dearborn (UM) and Wayne State University (WSU) in Detroit. The addition of HFCC will require a new way of looking at MBBP compared to the current WMU Bridges Program, owing to a distance of 125 miles from Detroit to Kalamazoo. This addition will open up new opportunities, such as establishment of a new venue for MRE at WSU.

With the addition of WSU, and expanded research at the Van Andel Research Institute (VARI) together with WMU represents three opportunities for MRE. These centers will also be close to the residences of Bridges RAs for performing their MRE. WMU will serve Bridges RAs from KVCC and KCC ; VAI from GRCC and WSU from HFCC, respectively. Lake Michigan College (LMC) located 55 miles west of Kalamazoo, represents a situation where it has no nearby high level research establishment suitable for MRE. In the 2003-2006 grant cycles, LMC established itself as a location for MRE during the academic year that may not be in position to commute to WMU for their MRE in the summer or during the academic year. However, 2 RAs at LMC during the academic year, the following summer successfully commuted to WMU for laboratory research.

Western Michigan University (WMU), Wayne State University (WSU) and Van Andel Research Institute (VARI) as venues for mentored laboratory research

WSU, even without the medical school, has over 100 faculties in Biology, Chemistry and Psychology with active research programs and external funding. The Chair of the Biology department at WSU, Dr. Jim Tucker, invited the MI Bridges program to place 3-5 RAs for their mentored laboratory research in Biology Department laboratories. As the MBBP matures in Detroit, we'll explore MRE opportunities in other departments as well.

VARI in Grand Rapids (just across the street from GRCC) was established in 1996 through the generosity of Jay and Betty van Andel, founders of the Amway Co., for cellular and molecular studies with possible application to human diseases. Currently VARI has 19 biomedical research groups and receives support from government and private sources. Most relevant to this application is that VARI accepts its first Ph.D. Graduate Program applications for Fall 2006.

WMU is a research intensive student centered university. The MBBP will be most closely associated with the Biology, Chemistry and Psychology Departments, all with their own Ph.D. programs, with over 50 faculty members with active research Programs and external funding. More recently 4 RAs did their laboratory research in WMU's School of Nursing.

These three institutions of research excellence have over 150 research scientists who are potential mentors to the 12 first year and approx. 4-6 second year RAs for their MRE.

B. Program overview and evaluation plan

The principle aim of this project is to increase the number of URM CC students who transfer to BS-degree granting institutions and eventually enter graduate schools towards careers in biomedical or behavioral research. The main focus of this proposal is a mentored research experience (MRE).

MRE includes

two weeks Introduction to Research Workshop, 30 hours per week
13 weeks of mentored laboratory research, 30 hours per week
biweekly summer colloquia and campus visits
end of summer In-house Poster Forum
presentation of results at professional conferences
continuation of mentored laboratory research during the academic year for about half of the new RAs
A second year mentored laboratory research for 3-5 RAs at 15 hours per week contingent on the availability of funds.

The Program Plan will be stated through Program Goals and Measurable Objectives. These goals and measurable objectives will make possible the continuous monitoring of the MBBP and will allow an evaluation of results at the conclusion of the funding cycle.

The success of the program will be monitored by an independent assessment agency, Science and Mathematics Program Improvement (SAMPI) of WMU. SAMPI worked with us ever since the first Bridges grant in 1999 and hence has a good understanding of the NIH NIGMS Bridges to the Baccalaureate.

Program goal 1: Nurture interest in biomedical/behavioral research careers

Objectives of the Introduction to Research Workshop

Bridges RAs accepted into MBBP will have only few science lab courses and none of them in a research lab environment. This two weeks workshop will give new RAs skills with techniques that they would likely encounter in research labs. The other equally important aspect of the Introduction to Research Workshop is that new RAs who come from 5 different CCs now meet each other and the MI Bridges Program Staff in Kalamazoo and work together as a group of about 12 students. Co-PD Dr. Sherine Obare, Assistant Professor of Chemistry at WMU will be responsible for organizing the Workshop. Out of town RAs will stay and eat in dorms.

The Workshop will cover the following:

Overview of the MBBP through reading the narrative portion of this grant proposal
Parts of a scientific report as a blue print for planning a scientific experiment
Science ethics
Finding scientific information on the internet
Library and computer center resources
Data processing and how to determine if the data represent significant differences
How to identify potential mentors and how to secure placement for mentored laboratory research (List of potential mentors will be provided.)
Basic chemical laboratory techniques
Frequently used methods in a molecular biology
Techniques used in a tissue culture laboratory

Mentored laboratory research at WMU, WSU or VARI

From mid-May to the end of August RAs will do their mentored laboratory research. The expectation is that they will be working with a research mentor and their co-workers on a selected part of a larger research project the lab is doing. Beginning in early August RAs will remind their mentors or the person they are working with closely such as a post-doc or graduate student, that their part of the results has to be organized into a poster for the In-House Poster Forum on the last Friday of August. As will be described under the Bridges Colloquia, RAs will also receive help with making a poster from the MBBP Staff and second year Bridges RAs.

About half of those completing the summer mentored laboratory research will be competitively selected to continue their MRE during the Academic Year at 15 hours/week. Selection criteria will include the degree of progress in their research as evidenced by the content, organization and effectiveness of their posters, recommendation by their research mentors, and by a brief plan about the research they plan to do during the academic year. However, exception will be made if the research will be such that the results will not yet be ready for inclusion in a poster. This was the case with students doing research that involved human subjects. For three RAs the first summer involved extensive literature search and preparation of an application for HSIRB approval. RAs involved in this type of research may be allowed to continue doing research during the academic year and if possible during the following summer.

RAs working through the academic year will attend regular departmental seminars in the area of their research. Their attendance will be monitored by their research faculty mentors. Second Summer RAs attend the Bridges Colloquia with the entering first year RAs

Table 11. Measurable objectives for Program goal 1:

Baseline from 2003-2006 grant	Measurable objectives for 2006-2009 grant	Evaluation method
9 RAs as a mean of 3 years	Increase the number of new RA appointments to 12 at WMU, WSU and VAI combined	Record keeping by Bridges Office
Introd. Res. Workshop covered 2 skills area	Introd. Res. Workshop will cover 3 skill areas	Record keeping by Bridges Office
Summer laboratory research at 1 research institution	Summer laboratory research at 3 research institutions	Record keeping by Bridges Office
Effectiveness of MRE is evaluated by SAMPI	Effectiveness of MRE is evaluated by SAMPI	Independent evaluation by SAMPI

Program goal 2: Develop Bridges RAs ability to think and communicate as a scientists

Bi-weekly Friday Colloquia and campus visits

All RAs during the summer MRE regardless in which city their research is conducted will be required to attend biweekly Friday colloquia alternately presented at WMU in Kalamazoo, at VARI in Grand Rapids and at WSU in Detroit.

As the summer MRE takes place, RAs will become aware of the bigger universe of scientific research and educational opportunities outside their own laboratory. This objective will be accomplished through bi-weekly Friday Colloquia and Campus visits. The Colloquia will start in early June and will continue biweekly till the end of August concluding with an In-house Poster Fair on the Friday before Labor Day.

In the past, all the summer MRE took place in Kalamazoo. With the addition of research excellence centers in Detroit and Grand Rapids, the seemingly impossible task of getting a joint colloquia for all new RAs (12) and second year RAs (3-5) presented itself. The idea of video conferencing and other electronic transmission methods of seminar presentation were considered and weighed against the advantages of actual physical presence of all participants. In the end we decided that actual physical presence in the same time and place outweighs the difficulty of transportation and expense to attend the colloquia. A typical Colloquium will consist of a morning presentation by a research scientist and/or other expert(s) (e.g. Admission counselor), followed by a joint lunch and campus/town visit. After lunch RAs will visit 2 research laboratories where the lab director and/or other research personnel will introduce the research they are doing. Holding the biweekly meetings in different venues will have the additional benefit that students will become familiar with additional institutions of higher learning such as WSU, and VARI in addition to WMU. These new venues will reveal opportunities for transfer to a BS-degree granting institution and later for graduate programs.

End of Summer Poster Fair

Building the RAs own posters implies that they and their mentors will analyze data and create/organize illustrative materials for the posters. To accomplish these objectives the following will take place: We'll ask 3-4 second year RAs who presented posters at ABRCMS or at other professional meetings to stand by their poster and present it to the group with opportunities to ask questions. After that we’ll go out in the hall of the research building wherever the colloquia will be held and with the help of the PD or one of the Co-PDs, will critique posters hanging in the hall ways. The MBBP website has sample posters which can be used as templates for RAs to construct their own poster. As in the current cycle, under the direction of Co-PD Dr. Leonard Ginsberg, we will help with the construction of an effective poster as well as printing them out at a low cost in house. As was described in the Progress Report, we will continue work with RAs on how to write a good abstract both for the In-House Poster Fair and for the upcoming ABRCMS meeting. Alternatively, some mentors have their own set-up for making and printing posters. After the in house poster fair, RAs will be asked to leave up their posters. In the next day or two the PD will carefully look over the posters and abstracts and will make suggestions, if necessary, through email about the Abstracts and the posters for possible improvements for the upcoming ABRCMS and other professional meetings.

Student presentations at professional meetings

As was shown in the Progress Report we have an excellent track record of presentations at professional meetings and we want this record to continue. In addition to ABRCMS where we are regular participants and contribute several posters annually, we'll emphasize more than ever presentations at professional meetings in the RAs' own area of research.

Table 12. Measurable objectives for Program goal 2:

Baseline from 2003-2006 grant	Measurable objectives for 2006-2009 grant	Evaluation method
1 research or technical presentation (e.g., transfer or financial aid) at each weekly seminar	1 speaker or technical presentation and 2 lab visits at 3 different research institutions at bi-weekly colloquia	Record keeping by Bridges Office
All RAs were assisted with preparing posters and abstracts	Continue assisting all RAs with preparing posters and abstracts	Record keeping by Bridges Office
8 in house posters were presented by new RAs in 2005	9 new RAs will present in house posters	Record keeping by Bridges Office

Table 12. Measurable objectives for Program goal 2: continued

7 RAs did poster presentations at ABRCMS in 2005	7 RAs will make presentations at ABRCMS	Record keeping by Bridges Office
In 2005 2 RAs made poster presentations at professional meetings other than ABRCMS	3 RAs will make presentations at professional meetings other than ABRCMS	Record keeping by Bridges Office
Effectiveness of In-house Poster fair was evaluated by SAMPI	Continue evaluation of the effectiveness of In-house poster Fair by SAMPI	Independent evaluation by SAMPI

Program Goal 3: Recruiting of URM students with potential for a scientific career into the Michigan Bridges to the Baccalaureate Program

The key is not just recruit enough qualified URM students into the MBBP, but those accepted must be highly qualified and motivated toward research careers in the biomedical or behavioral sciences. To determine qualification up till now we required a 2.8 GPA in math and science courses, which we will increase to 3.0. We'll also look at all other grades, especially English composition. In addition to GPA we will carefully look at the answer, both in content and language, to the question: "Please state your long-term goals and how the research assistant position will help you to achieve these goals?" Equally important is a frank letter of recommendation from either a CC PC or CC faculty member who knows the applicant well.

During the 2004/05 academic year NNA was an RA at LMC. In March 2005 she applied for the summer MRE at WMU. Her Science GPA based on 14 credits was 3.62. Her answer to the question above was: "I would like to be a research scientist in the future, and this position will give me an opportunity to get hands-on experience on what research is all about. It will also help me in deciding what area of research I would specialize in." Her letter of recommendation from her mentor at LMC was specific and very positive. She turned out to be an excellent RA, presented an excellent in house poster and made a poster presentation at ABRCMS in Atlanta.

In our recruitment in the current grant, we attempted to identify students who already showed interest in science and a research career. This will still be one of our approaches. Our new Co-Program Director Dr. Sherine Obare, suggested an additional approach. As Dr. Obare stated: "There is general agreement within URM faculty at CCs, that one of the reasons few URM students major in science is that they fail to understand the possible career options in the sciences. In addition, most URM students lack scientist role models and hence may not be aware of the significant contributions of scientists [to society]. As a result, a large number of URM students major in the social sciences, pre-law, pre-medicine, pre-engineering and applied health professions, relative to the sciences." To address this very large and important issue, Dr. Obare and Dr. Garrett, the MBBP Program Coordinator at HFCC, will take the lead to work with CC faculty who are interested in promoting "science awareness" among non-science major URM students taking general education (non-major) biology, chemistry and psychology courses. Their intervention will take the form of seeking guest lecture opportunities to talk about science and scientific careers in an engaging manner that is understandable and interesting for non-science majors.

Following such presentation interested students will be invited for lab visits at our research excellence centers, WMU, WSU and VARI in small group or as a one on one format. Interested URM students will be given the opportunity to apply for admission into MBBP. If an applicant's preparation in science courses does not meet the requirements for MBBP, information will be given to the applicant in a friendly, encouraging manner as to how qualifications for the MBBP program can be met.

The established recruiting procedure we followed in the current grant cycle and which we'll continue to follow, with an attempt to offer the program to the kind of students just described, is summarized in Table 13 as measurable objectives.

Table 13. Measurable objectives for Program goal 3:

Baseline from 2003-2006 grant	Measurable objectives for 2006-2009 grant	Evaluation method
Owing to the marginal URM student pool size at the existing 4 CCs, we could not be as selective in our admissions as we ought	We will apply rigorous criteria for admission in every case. The more rigorous admission criteria will be possible by enlarging the applicant pool by adding HFCC to the program	Record keeping by Bridges Office.
CC PCs were well informed about recruiting strategies	Continue informing CC PCs about recruiting strategies. Visit with HFCC a new CC, as often as necessary	Record keeping by Bridges Office
CC PCs informed and involved their colleagues at all 4 PCs	CC PCs will continue to inform and involve their colleagues at all 5 PCs	Independent assessment by SAMPI
Bridges Program Office updated Web site and program brochure annually. Made 30 copies of brochures available to each CC	Bridges Program Office will update Web site and program brochure annually. Will distribute 50 copies of brochures to each of 5 CCs	Record keeping by Bridges Office
Bridges Program office revised 11X17 inch poster about Bridges Program annually and sent 10-20 copies to each CC in March of each year for posting	Bridges Program office will revise 11X17 inch poster about Bridges Program annually and will send 10-20 copies to each CC in March of each year	Record keeping by Bridges Office
Bridges Program Office revised tri-fold poster about Bridges Program and sent a current RA to his/her home CC to be with the poster at the CC at least 2, 2 hour periods	Bridges Program Office will revise tri-fold poster about Bridges Program and will send a current RA to his her home CC (in first year send a current RA to HFCC) to be with the poster at the CC at least 2, 2 hour periods. We will look for College Day opportunity.	Record keeping by Bridges Office
Current Ras in the Bridges Program were given 3-5 brochures to give to friends in school they feel are right for the Program	Current RAs in the Bridges Program will be given 3-5 brochures to give to friends in CC they feel are right for the Program	Record keeping by Bridges Office
SAMPI did not evaluated effectiveness of recruiting	SAMPI will continue evaluating the effectiveness of recruiting	Independent evaluation by SAMPI
Not done	Expand MBBP to URM students in non-science general education courses	Record keeping by Bridges Office, evaluation by SAMPI
Not done	Expand MBBP to URM students in non-science major, general education science courses	Rcord keeping by bridges Office, evaluation by SAMPI

Program goal 4: Maintain current level of networking and retention

Networking

Through networking, students support each other in every aspect of a student's progression toward a biomedical or behavioral research career. RAs who know each other will help each other in course work, research, finding schools to transfer to, babysitting, visiting each other when sick, and providing emotional support when there is need for it. In this cycle we'll continue to create situations, and expand on opportunities, to bring together RA members of the Program including the introduction to research workshop, biweekly colloquia and campus visits, meals between the morning and afternoon parts of the bi-weekly colloquia, in the preparation and presentation of excellent posters for the annual in house poster forum, travel to and attend ABRCMS, and attend at least one barbecue, swimming, games and good fellowship at the PD's lakeside residence. This picnic brings together RAs, mentors, program coordinators, children and friends.

Retention

Networking and community building that we have achieved to date will be continued and improved upon. We have seen over and over again, that a clear statement of short and long term goals on a student's application and high GPA is a good predictor of success as an RA. With the addition of HFCC we will have more applications to chose from, and we we'll be in the position to select RAs who are clear about their goals and have greater aptitude for biomedical or behavioral research careers than was possible in the past.

We realize that maintaining the same closeness with RAs in Detroit, as we were able to achieve in Kalamazoo, will be a challenge. However, we are very fortunate to have Mr. Michael D. Thomas who is working full-time with under represented minority persons in the Partners Plus Program at HFCC and University of Michigan-Dearborn (http://www.partnersplus.umd.umich.edu). It is our hope that Mr. Thomas and his staff will be able to give the same personal attention to the Bridges RAs in Detroit (in addition to their involvement with several aspects of community building of MBBP already mentioned) which we will be able to give RAs in Kalamazoo. The needs of RAs at GRCC and LMC will be well attended to (as it was in the past) by dedicated and resourceful Program Coordinators Prof. Laurie Foster and Dr. Susan Lentz, respectively.

Tracking

We are up-dating tracking information as was stated in the Progress Report. As we discovered when we summarized the tracking data for the progress report, we neglected to follow up on RAs who did their MRE at a CC. We'll ameliorate this over-sight and will do biannual up-dating on all who participated as RAs in the Bridges Program and maintain records on all RAs who will be in the MBBP.

Quantification of staying on track toward biomedical research careers

Up till now we worked with 4 CCs, each individually with a small cohort of URM students interested in science as a career. We estimate that none of these colleges had more than 4-10 such students. When out of these small samples we took out the most motivated and academically strongest 2 or 3 students, what remained was the less well prepared and motivated group. Comparing the transfer success and staying on track toward biomedical or behavioral research careers was strongly biased in favor of the group we have selected for Bridges. With the addition of HFCC we have a larger cohort interested in biomedical or behavioral research careers. After selecting for Bridges we will still have a comparable group also interested in biomedical or behavioral research careers but without the benefit of Bridges. From this comparison we hope to generate unbiased statistics which will help us to evaluate the effect of the Bridges Program on entering and staying on track toward biomedical or behavioral research careers.

Table 14. Measurable objectives for Program goal 4

Baseline from 2003-2006 grant	Measurable objectives for 2006-2009 grant	Evaluation method
Networking and community building strategies were developed and followed	Continue networking and community building strategies	Record keeping by Bridges Office and independent evaluation by SAMPI
Retention of RAs is dependent on clear long term goals and academic preparation	Increase science and math GPA to 3.0 min and carefully evaluae applicants statement of purpose	Record keeping by Bridges Office and independent evaluation by SAMPI

Table 14. Measurable objectives for Program goal 4: continued

Mentoring has been very successful

Continue successful mentoring with special emphasis on WSU and VAI who are new to this aspect of the program

Record keeping by Bridges Office and independent evaluation by SAMPI

Tracking was up-to-date for 75% for RAs at WMU and lower than that at CCs

Attempt 100% tracking of all current and former RAs

Record keeping by Bridges Office

Meaningful statistics to measure the impact of the Bridges program was not possible

Attempt quantification of the impact of the Bridges program with increased sample sizes at HFCC

Record keeping by Bridges Office and independent evaluation by SAMPI

Program goal 5: Transfer every Bridges RA from CCs to BS-degree granting institutions

Assisting Bridges RAs with transfer

Transfer from CC to a BS-degree granting institution in a science major involves many aspects: first of all an ambitious, hardworking, persevering student. Most Bridges RAs meet this requirement. Our excellent mentors will help RAs with identification of good BS programs. Once a MBBP RA will decide where they want to transfer, they must be informed of both the academic requirements of the BS-degree institution and how to finance their education after transfer. It is the responsibility of the employees of the CCs and BS degree granting institutions and of the MBBP, to assist the RAs in this process. In the Bridges Colloquia we'll include presentations from admission, undergraduate advising and financial aid offices.

Financial Assistance to RAs after they transfer to BS-degree granting institutions

The MBBP will provide this assistance to RAs who will transfer to either WMU or WSU for their BS-degrees through pre-transfer information about all kinds of financial assistance that may be available from these BS-degree granting institutions. Our experience at WMU was that research mentors looked after their transferred Bridges RAs by hiring them on grants, help them get undergraduate research grants, and at the very least, hired them as College Work-studies. One WMU mentor, Dr. John Spitsbergen, has obtained earlier an NIH Supplemental grant to support an RA after transfer and a similar application for a current RA is pending. This is one area that we have not asked mentors with NIH research grants to look into in the past, but will do so in the future. Another possible support to RAs transferring to U of M and MSU, as well as WMU and WSU, is presented in the next section.

Participation of post-transfer Bridges RAs in the Michigan Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (MI-AGEP)

Bridges RAs who will have transferred to BS-degree granting institution may lose much of the mentoring and community support that they have enjoyed while they were part of the CC to BS-degree program such as our own MBBP. As we mentioned earlier, we had and will continue to place students in paid research positions after they transfer, but our efforts, at least to date, were limited to those who transferred to WMU. The MI-AGEP, supported by NSF, may help to resolve this issue. MI-AGEP is an alliance of U of M, MSU, WSU and WMU with one of their goal "to develop strategies for identifying minorities who want to pursue academic careers [and the doctorate]". Information about MI-AGEP will be made available to all our RAs and we will identify ourselves to MI-AGEP as an existing program representing the first steps in the direction of doctoral degrees for under represented minorities which is their program goal. MI-AGEP institutions offer 8 week summer mentored research programs which are tailor made for our already research savvy post-transfer RAs. In the MBBP we will introduce our RAs to two members of the MI-AGEP, WSU and WMU. MI-AGEP will also open doors to the University of Michigan and Michigan State University.

The Advisory Committee will consist of: PD, 2 Co-PDs, Assistant PD, a 2nd year RA, and the 5 CC Coordinators. The Advisory Committee will be an opportunity for input by all participants in the MI Bridges Partnership. The Advisory Committee will meet before the In-house Poster Fair (which also marks the end of a grant year) to reflect on the previous grant fiscal year and make decisions to make the following grant year successful and exciting. This date is selected because most PCs are expected to attend the In-house Poster Forum.

Table 15. Measurable objectives for Program goal 5:

Baseline from 2003-2006 grant	Measurable objectives for 2006-2009 grant	Evaluation method
Transfer was sole responsibility of RAs	Provide information from Advising, Admission and Financial Aid on transfer to all RAs	Record keeping by Bridges office and independent evaluation by SAMPI
Not done	All RAs will be informed of the goals and opportunities provided by the Michigan Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (MI-AGEP)	Record keeping by Bridges office and independent evaluation by SAMPI
Advisory Committee met twice a year	Advisory Committee to meet once before the in-house poster forum	Record keeping by Bridges office and independent evaluation by SAMPI

Farmer, H. S. A multivariate model for explaining gender differences and in career achievement and motivation. Education Res., 16:5-9, 1987.

On may 6, 2002, we asked 9 entering Bridges Research Students starting their mentored research experience at WMU: when was the first time in their lives that they got interested in science. The answers ranged from grade school through high school and taking college classes. One made this decision just recently changing from an interest in creating writing. Since this was a conversation, it came out that the greatest influence awakening their interest in science was a wonderful teacher or a parent, usually the mother.

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