Assessments from the first year of an underrepresented undergraduate internship program

Abstract

To enhance our service to a diverse student population our faculty created the INtegrative biology and Physiology Undergraduate Training (INPUT) program. This research focused initiative solicited applications from first- and second-year students undergraduates of our large, urban, land-grant university. Selection criteria included academic aptitude, self-reported socioeconomic and cultural challenges, interest in physiological research and letters of support. Six students were selected from our initial cadre of applicants. The students were matched with faculty research mentors and provided a paid research opportunity for the spring semester of 2023. At the end of the term, an assessment of the experience by both each student and mentor determined whether a second semester experience was offered by the department. All of our faculty mentors were favorably impressed by the progress made by their INPUT scholars and five of the six students requested and were granted a second semester research opportunity. The five INPUT students continued their mentored research in the areas of neurophysiology, skeletal muscle physiology, and adipose biology. The one outlier stated that while she enjoyed the experience and that it encouraged her to continue in research. She also found that her scientific passion was in chemistry rather than physiology and moved to a different program. Based on the overall positive outcomes a second semester opportunity was offered to the five students who expressed an interest in continuing their physiology-focused projects. The second term experiences were completed either during the summer or fall of 2023. We will encourage our initial group of INPUT scholars to serve as ambassadors for other underrepresented students who are interested in physiology research and use their end of experience assessments to help shape the future of our INPUT program. We will report on the opportunities discovered and the challenges faced in launching the INPUT program as well as the prospects for continued outreach. Our hope is that our experiences with INPUT will encourage others to attract, encourage and prepare a robust and representative group of young scientists and clinicians to enter the 21st century biomedical community. Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN 55455. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2024 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.