# Bridge to the Doctorate at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

> **NIH NIH T32** · UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN · 2022 · $228,285

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Racial and ethnic minorities and women have been historically under-represented in quantitative sciences. Even
within biology, diversity in quantitative sub-branches is much lower than that in experimental counterparts, with
the historical data clearly showing that the more mathematical and computational skills a discipline requires, the
fewer the enrollment of these under-represented students. The proposed training program seeks to ameliorate
these especially pronounced disparities with the biomedical sciences by establishing a streamlined bridge
between Master’s programs at Fisk University and doctoral programs at the University of Illinois, Urbana-
Champaign (UIUC). Our bridge program designed to nurture a diverse future generation of active minds
specifically in the areas of biomedical data science and quantitative biology is named FUTURE-MINDS-QB (Fisk-
UIUC Training of Under-represented Minds in Data Science and Quantitative Biology), where quantitative
biology encompasses bioinformatics, computational biology, genomic biology, and biophysics. This training
program will significantly contribute to diversifying the pool of Ph.D. researchers to include those currently under-
represented in biomedical discovery and leadership
 To achieve our goal, we will accomplish the following short-term and medium-term objectives: (a) establish
pathways for transitioning 20 Fisk M.S. students to UIUC Ph.D. programs over five years by providing ample
opportunities to strengthen their background in relevant fields and acquire core computational and mathematical
skill sets; (b) ensure the trainees’ timely Ph.D. attainment within 5 years after Master’s degree; (c) accelerate the
admission to and completion of Ph.D. programs by creating a new 4+1 M.S. track at Fisk, rigorously preparing
undergraduates for a shortened 1-year M.S degree at Fisk and successful completion of a Ph.D. degree at UIUC;
(d) create an inclusive and diverse inter-institutional environment by training both students and faculty in equity-
focused teaching, mentoring, peer interactions, rigor, reproducibility, and the responsible conduct of research;
(e) devise effective career development plans and opportunities; (f) implement a longitudinal survey of the
development of individual trainees, and disseminate an open network of current trainees, graduates, and faculty;
and, (g) make FUTURE-MINDS-QB a dynamic entity that continually improves by integrating feedback from
trainees, faculty, oversight committees, and independent evaluators. As outcomes of our training, we expect that
our seamless infrastructure and appealing inclusive environment will significantly increase the recruitment of
under-represented students to quantitative biomedical sciences and that the reinforced academic and
psychological preparation will increase the completion of doctoral degrees by under-represented students and
ultimately improve their long-term retention in biomedical sciences. We thus expect F...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10445299
- **Project number:** 5T32GM142518-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN
- **Principal Investigator:** Stephen A Boppart
- **Activity code:** T32 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $228,285
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-08-01 → 2026-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10445299

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10445299, Bridge to the Doctorate at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (5T32GM142518-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10445299. Licensed CC0.

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