# Promoting Underrepresented Minority Advancement in the Sciences (PUMAS)

> **NIH NIH R25** · J. DAVID GLADSTONE INSTITUTES · 2020 · $66,240

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT
 The goal of our program, Promoting Underrepresented Minority Advancement in the Sciences (PUMAS), is
to increase the number of well-trained minority biomedical research scientists. We do this by providing eight
summer research opportunities for community college students from backgrounds that are traditionally
underrepresented in the sciences. When Under-Represented Minority (URM) students gain first-hand
experience in a state-of-the-art lab such as Gladstone, they are more prepared to major in the sciences when
they transfer to a 4-year institution. This then increases the number of URM's who apply for graduate school
and diversifies biomedical research.
 The PUMAS program recruits' students who are currently enrolled in a community college, have
successfully completed at least two semesters of college-level science courses with a lab component
(chemistry and molecular biology preferred, but not required), and who intend to transfer to a 4-year institution
to pursue a baccalaureate degree in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM). We target our
marketing of the PUMAS program to 23 community colleges within a 60-mile radius of our institution. Mainly
marketing to science department chairs and transfer centers at our target campuses, but also to Mathematics,
Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) directors in Northern California. MESA is a program created to
develop California's future STEM workforce that supports students to successfully transfer to 4-year
universities in STEM majors. We chose to focus on community college students because this population is
often overlooked and has the highest percentage of minority enrollment across institutes of higher education in
our state.
 For 9-weeks each summer, the PUMAS participants are paired with a scientific mentor at Gladstone to
work on a specific research project. They spend 75% of their time doing biomedical research, including
independent research activities, receiving one-on-one mentoring, attending laboratory meetings, scientific
lectures, seminars and journal clubs. They spend 25% of their time participating in supplementary educational
activities, which include a week-long biotech boot-camp and a series of professional development workshops
geared to inspire educationally disadvantaged students to persist through undergraduate and graduate school
in the sciences. The PUMAS program culminates with a poster session in which students describe their work,
hypothesis and findings to the scientific community at Gladstone.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9849787
- **Project number:** 5R25HL121037-07
- **Recipient organization:** J. DAVID GLADSTONE INSTITUTES
- **Principal Investigator:** Melanie Maria Ott
- **Activity code:** R25 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $66,240
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2014-04-01 → 2024-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9849787

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9849787, Promoting Underrepresented Minority Advancement in the Sciences (PUMAS) (5R25HL121037-07). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9849787. Licensed CC0.

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