Student Career Enhancement Program

Abstract: Student Career Enhancement Program We believe that Native communities are best suited to carry out the research necessary to mitigate the chronic health diseases they experience. Our ultimate goal is to facilitate the Blackfeet Nation looking to its own tribal college to help address its health problems either by using existing college expertise or by adding to that expertise through collaborations. The Blackfeet and other Native peoples experience significant chronic health diseases, and, arguably, the best qualified individuals to address these disparities are Native researchers. However, there are precious few Native investigators with health research expertise and few sustainable health research centers within Native communities that are controlled by the community. With our current NARCH funding, we have been successful in developing research career interest in Blackfeet Community College (BFCC) students. Eight students were authors on two scientific publications, which opened educational and employment opportunities for them, and two students transferred into laboratory baccalaureate programs. Another student has transferred into medical school. Two of our students are employed at the Blackfeet IHS Hospital as laboratory technicians, and three went to Montana State University to conduct biofilm research. We also have 10 students developing middle school curriculum science educational experiences through a collaboration with MSU’s Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA), a program supporting educational activities encouraging pre-college students from diverse backgrounds, including those from groups underrepresented in the biomedical and behavioral sciences, to pursue further studies in STEM. Many of our students have presented their research to community members, including at our annual research conference. Thus, in this application, we propose a student career enhancement project, the Student Career Enhancement Program (SCEP), that will build on the success of the current NARCH student research development program. We believe this new program will, in the long term, enhance the capacity of Blackfeet Community College (BFCC) to develop a sustainable Center for Community Medicine (BFCC-CCM). The SCEP will focus on building further the human resources and infrastructure necessary to develop a sustainable research center by continuing to develop interest among students to pursue research careers, complete education resulting in an ability to become independent investigators and return to the BFCC-CCM as researchers and mentors.