Dr. Curry receives NIH training grant to support transition of community college students to UofM

BME faculty member Amy Curry has been awarded a 5-year, $973,767 grant entitled "Bridges to Baccalaureate Research Training Program at The University of Memphis," from the National Institutes of Health (National Institute of General Medical Sciences) . The grant is a partnership between The University of Memphis (UofM) and Southwest Tennessee Community College (STCC) to support STCC community college students from underrepresented groups with career goals in biomedical research; the partnership is designed to help these students matriculate and persist in STEM undergraduate programs at UofM. Students participating in the program will receive enhanced supplemental instruction at STCC, be embedded in a STEM peer mentoring program for undergraduate researchers, and receive a stipend to work as full-time undergraduate researchers during summers and part-time researchers during the academic year in UofM research laboratories. The goals of this training program are to increase the number of STCC students matriculating to UofM and completing the baccalaureate degree in a STEM discipline, as well as increase the number of STEM graduates in underrepresented groups who successfully matriculate into doctoral degree programs in STEM disciplines and enter the biomedical workforce. Co-Investigators at the UofM are Amanda Rockinson-Szapkiw (College of Education), Firouzeh Sabri (College of Arts & Sciences), Brian Wright (College of Education) and STCC faculty are Drs. Robert Blaudow, Amy Waddell, and Joyce Johnson (Department of Natural Sciences)

Congratulations, Dr. Curry, for securing this award and leading this exciting and impactful new training program/partnership!