In This Edition
February 18, 2022
DPC Newsletter Vol. 7, Issue 1
Mentors Who Inspire: Celebrating Mentorship in the DPC
Mentors have a tremendous impact on our community at the Diversity Program Consortium (DPC). They support undergraduate students participating in our 10 BUILD programs across the country—inspiring the next generation of scientists and researchers! To honor their hard work, the DPC and Enhance Science created a “Thank You Notes” campaign encouraging BUILD scholars to show their appreciation for their mentors by writing them a message. Read these Thank You Notes from scholars at XULA BUILD and CSULB BUILD.
For more information click here.
Catch up with BUILD alumni featured in the 2021 #FaceOfScience campaign! Each are excelling in research careers through fellowships, doctoral programs, and more. Stay tuned on social media @enhancescience for a new cast of DPC community members who have amazing stories to tell.
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Carlos Crespo, DrPH, is Vice Provost of Undergraduate Training in Biomedical Research and a professor of health science at Portland State University. A native of Puerto Rico, Crespo is also a Principal Investigator for the university’s BUILD Exito program.
For more information click here.
Yolanda Vasquez-Salgado, PhD, is an assistant professor of psychology and a mentor for the BUILD PODER program at California State University, Northridge. She studies factors that contribute to the health and academic achievement of underrepresented students during the transition to college. She identifies as a Latina, a first-generation college student, and a daughter of immigrant parents from Mexico.
For more information click here.
Karlyn Adams-Wiggins, PhD, is an assistant professor of applied developmental psychology and a mentor for the BUILD EXITO program at Portland State University who uses they/she pronouns. They are interested in the intersection of academic achievement, motivation and identity, with a specific focus on how adolescents’ identities are negotiated in social interactions.
For more information click here.
Decatur Foster, PhD, is a queer scientist who identifies as non-binary and uses they/them pronouns. They serve as a curriculum specialist and career mentor for the BUILD EXITO program at Portland State University supporting underrepresented students in STEM, specifically in the biomedical sciences.
For more information click here.
Thomas Waters Jr. is the Assistant Director for Morgan State University’s Office of Undergraduate Research and a mentor for the university’s BUILD ASCEND program. He identifies as Afro-Cuban. He desires to cultivate a culture of undergraduate research and creative inquiry, with his own research interests being diverse in nature.
For more information click here.
Former San Francisco State University BUILD co-lead Teaster Baird, Jr., PhD, was announced the new Associate Dean of the College of Science and Engineering. SF BUILD alumnus Juan Castillo, PhD, graduated with his doctoral degree in Analytical Chemistry from the University of California, Davis (UCD) in late 2021. He is the first SF BUILD scholar to earn a PhD.
For more information click here.
Drinking and driving kills 28 people a day in the United States, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
One University of Detroit Mercy student is working to change that.
For more information click here.
Ebony Magazine’s longest-running editorial franchise, the HBCU Campus Queens competition, commemorates Black collegiate women around the world poised to make positive changes in the African American community. The competition highlights brilliant students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) programs in collaboration with the cosmetics company Olay. XULA BUILD alumna Kirsten McGowan was selected as a Top 10 2021 Olay x Ebony HBCU STEM Queen.
For more information click here.
In the eight years since the California State University, Long Beach BUILD program began, numerous faculty have helped in the development and growth of the initiative. In particular, Kim Vu, PhD, and Arturo Zavala, PhD, have continued to assist by taking on roles such as Core Director, Co-Director, liaison to University of California, Irvine, and even principal investigator (PI).
For more information click here.
Mentorship has always been a critical component of the BUILD EXITO program at Portland State University. The centrality of mentorship in this program is based on an understanding that by providing support and mentorship to students, they can grow as students, scholars, and people. The BUILD EXITO program model provides students with peer mentors, career mentors, and research mentors.
For more information click here.
BUILDing SCHOLARS at the University of Texas El Paso (UTEP) annually recognizes faculty members from each of the colleges for their excellence in mentorship. Awardees are selected from competitive applications in which they demonstrate their dedication to mentoring at all levels, from postdoctoral fellows and graduates to undergraduate students engaged in their first research activities.
For more information click here.
Since 2016, the Biomedical Learning and Student Training (BLaST) program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) has highlighted scientists from all biomedical fields through their Scientist of the Month articles. These articles are shared across all University of Alaska Fairbanks and University of Alaska Southeast rural campuses and with BLaST’s partners: Iļisaġvik College, Fort Lewis College, Diné College, Salish Kootenai College, and Alaska Pacific University. Below are the Scientists of the Month for January and February, 2022.
For more information click here.
One good mentor can impact many lives. Passion, commitment, wisdom—a mentor with these qualities can inspire future generations of scientists and strengthen entire communities. Maryam Foroozesh, PhD, is one such mentor.
For more information click here.
A positive mentoring relationship can play a central role in supporting undergraduate students’ research endeavors, while also teaching mentors valuable lessons about collaboration and introducing new ways to look at their own research. Mentorship is an integral part of the Morgan State University (MSU) ASCEND research training program. Although the program’s format has evolved over the years, the mentoring goals remain the same: providing students and mentors with beneficial and positive experiences, and fostering the growth of undergraduate researchers.
For more information click here.
California State University Long Beach’s BUILD program continues to promote student success with its Advancing Inclusive Mentoring (AIM) initiative. The overarching goals of AIM are to provide a variety of engaging faculty training resources to promote student success through positive and inclusive mentoring. Called “Beach Mentor” at CSULB, AIM has trained over 150 mentors at the CSULB campus.
For more information click here.
In fall 2021, the BUILD EXITO program at Portland State University organized two separate virtual events for students to share and present their research. Presenting research is an important step in students’ development as scientists, and in their fully participating in the research community.
For more information click here.
The University of Alaska Fairbanks Biomedical Learning and Student Training program (UAF BLaST) has partnered with several institutions outside of Alaska that have high numbers of Alaska Native and American Indian students. One of those partners is Fort Lewis College (FLC) a unique minority serving institution that provides Native American (NA) students tuition waivers no matter where they live in the United States. BLaST has supported eight faculty pilot projects to date at FLC and 58 undergraduate research experience (URE) student awards with 51 individual students to date. BLaST also supports a staff position there to help enhance biomedical research.
For more information click here.
The Biomedical Learning and Student Training program (BLaST) at University of Alaska Fairbanks has funded many Faculty Pilot Projects (FPP) since 2015. One of those projects is with Jacques Philip, MD, who focuses his research on engaging rural Alaskan communities to reduce health disparities, making use of Alaska Native cultural values and multi-generational knowledge shared by community members and Elders. This involves a long-term collaboration with Huslia community members across multiple research projects with BLaST faculty and students.
For more information click here.
The California State University, Long Beach BUILD program has hosted a number of events and activities for its community. Here is a recap of activities that took place at the end of the fall 2021 semester.
For more information click here.
The After-EXITO team, part of the Portland State University BUILD EXITO program, was formed to provide offboarding experiences for senior BUILD EXITO Scholars, helping them in the next steps after completing the BUILD EXITO program. In addition to providing this assistance, the After-EXITO team also interviews alumni to collect their stories about experiences during and after their participation in BUILD EXITO. This article features Dhale Larsen Posadas, an alumna who has begun a job in public health.
For more information click here.
This article was published in the January 28, 2022, issue of the "The Plug" newsletter, and features Christine Hohmann, PhD. Hohmann is a principal investigator for the Morgan State University ASCEND Program. Along with two additional HBCU professors, Hohmann is among the newly announced class of 564 scientists, engineers and other innovators elected as Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest general scientific society, publisher of the Science family of research journals and one of the most prestigious general scientific organizations in the world.
For more information click here.
California State University San Bernardino (CSUSB) was recently designated as an R2 Doctoral University: High Research Activity. This milestone reflects advances in research opportunities on campus. CSUSB is one of the Cohort 1 recipients of the DPC Sponsored Programs Administration Development (SPAD) Program award. The DPC SPAD Program provides support to institutions aiming to establish Offices of Sponsored Programs (OSPs), or to enhance the services of their existing OSPs.
For more information click here.
Fátima Sancheznieto, a University of Wisconsin researcher who works with the National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN) gave this TEDxChicago talk in late 2021: "How to keep the next generation of brilliant scientists."
For more information click here.
New NRMN Publications include: Factors Related to Faculty Work Life Balance as a Reason to Leave a School of Medicine; Developmental Networks Among Mentors and Mentees Involved in a Mentoring Intervention; Faculty Rating of the Importance and Availability of Organizational Mentoring Climate; Randomized Controlled Study to Test the Effectiveness of Developmental Network Coaching in the Career Advancement of Diverse Early-Stage Investigators (ESIs).
For more information click here.
NRMN investigators Chris Pfund, PhD, Janet Branchaw, PhD, and Melissa McDaniels, PhD, wrote a letter to the editor titled "Training Ph.D. Students to Successfully Navigate Research Mentoring Relationships" which was published in The Chronicle of Higher Education.
For more information click here.
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Event Date: Thu, Feb 24, 2022 Location: https://unthsc.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_S58n1DnCSyyQAWx857XKLA |
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Event Date: Sun, Apr 03, 2022 Location: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-22-061.html |
The NIH Diversity Program Consortium (DPC) Newsletter provides updates on activities at DPC sites, shares progress on collaborative efforts within the consortium, and highlights news and recent publications related to diversity and mentoring in the biomedical sciences.
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