UMB Postbaccalaureate Research Education Program

Project Summary
The proportion of African-, Black- and Hispanic- and Latino- Americans (UR) in the U.S. population increased
from 24.8% to 30.6% (1.23 fold) between 2000 and 2014. However, from 2006 to 2016, the proportion of awarded
STEM PhDs was abysmally low, (5% to 7% of total), for the same groups and remained below 1% for Native
Americans. Workforce diversity brings a diversity of ideas, experience and productive interactions, accelerating
creative problem-solving. Importantly, an increasingly diverse workforce is also urgently needed to address the
increasing diversity and complexity of health issues. Therefore, the STAR-PREP program at University of
Maryland Baltimore (UMB) was recently created to provide rigorous, integrated and comprehensive academic
and research training to prepare UR to ascend to quality PhD or MD-PhD programs to meet the urgent workforce
diversity need. Our underlying prediction for the program was that this multidimensional program would result in
at least 75% of participating students enrolling in rigorous and high-quality PhD or MD-PhD programs. Indeed,
in just 3 years, a 77% ascension rate to quality PhD or MD-PhD programs was achieved. Students were
prepared by immersion in rigorous programing, including graduate academic and enrollment-preparation
courses, activities and workshops which were guided by comprehensive, individualized development plans (IDP)
and frequent cohort assessments and evaluations. We learned that the students wanted and needed research,
academic and also emotional preparation for the rigors of graduate school. Multiple levels and channels of
engagement were created to meet this need, resulting in building of trust and the scholars and excitement in the
UMB academic community to host, challenge, nurture and support the students in collaboratively-, culturally-,
contextually- and experientially-informed capacities. This renewal application builds on the successes of the first
funding period and incorporates best practices from lessons learned to test our current outcome predictions that
student preparedness and institutional cultural impact will make programs and mentors much more receptive
and accepting of UR scholars and vice versa, which will lead to greater scholar integration, better scholar
performance and ultimately to increased MD- STEM-PhD and STEM-PhD enrollment and graduation. We
propose a bold and innovative STAR-PREP program that builds on successes and lessons learned, to pursue
the following aims: Aim 1), We will maximize student academic and research preparedness through intense lab
and graduate course experiences, Aim 2), We will strengthen and prepare the scholars holistically
(academically, mentally, emotionally) for the rigors of graduate school through courses and professional
development activities. Aim 3), We will use the STAR-PREP model to widen its impact to collaboratively shape
the culture and expectations of the higher-learning institution to receive and nurture UR scholars. These aims
will be pursued while maintaining the 75%/25% balance in research and development activities, respectively and
the program will continue to deliver a 75% of better ascension rate to high quality MD-PhD and PhD programs.

Grant Number: 5R25GM113262-10
NIH Institute/Center: NIH
Principal Investigator: GREGORY CAREY