April 13, 2004
Life Sciences Bridge Program Helps Minorities
EVANSTON, Ill. --- Minorities are underrepresented in the number of
graduates receiving doctorates in the life sciences across the country,
which in turn results in too few minorities attaining faculty positions
at universities and colleges.
To address this problem, Northwestern University and Chicago State
University have developed a “bridge” master’s degree
program, funded by a $600,000 grant spanning three years from the
National Institutes of Health, to help minority students from the
Chicago area make the critical transition from undergraduate student to
Ph.D. candidate.
“Diversity on campus and in the classroom makes for a richer
learning environment for everyone,” said Robert MacDonald,
professor of biochemistry, molecular biology and cell biology at
Northwestern, who was principle investigator on the grant application
and is overseeing the Northwestern portion of the new program.
The program targets promising students whose undergraduate
preparation is insufficient for admission to high-quality doctoral
programs (often for good reasons or due to unavoidable circumstances
such as a lack of relevant courses or an inadequate grade point average
due to the need to work full time) but who nonetheless aspire to earn a
Ph.D. degree and have the necessary ability and dedication to complete
the program.
Working together, Northwestern and Chicago State are seeking to
provide students with the academic skills, laboratory training and
familiarity with the Ph.D. program environment that will allow motivated
students to complete, with distinction, the doctoral program at
Northwestern or a similar institution.
While earning a master’s degree at Chicago State, students in
the program (there are currently two) work as research laboratory
assistants and are paid a stipend. During their second year each student
spends one quarter at Northwestern taking courses and working in a lab
with a Ph.D. student whose research is related to each master
student’s thesis. In addition to the stipends, both schools waive
tuition to free students from worry about finances.
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