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

Dr. Amy Curry is awarded a 5-yr ($973,767) grant from the NIH National Institute of General Medical Sciences entitled "Bridges to Baccalaureate Research Training Program at The University of Memphis". 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 to matriculate and persist in STEM undergraduate programs at UofM. Students 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 in 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).