# Kansas Bridges to the Future

> **NIH NIH R25** · KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $266,683

## Abstract

Kansas State University and three community colleges from southwest Kansas, Dodge City
Community College, Garden City Community College, and Seward County Community College,
have had a thriving Kansas Bridges to the Future partnership during the past eleven years.
During academic year 2014-15, the project had a NIH no-cost extension; therefore, this new
proposal is seeking NIH support for a new five-year grant cycle. To date, 104 students from first
generation and often immigrant families have transferred to Kansas State University. The
families of the majority of the Bridges to the Future students have migrated from Spanish-
speaking countries to work in the meat packing plants and agricultural industries where they
work long hours and encounter numerous financial, health, language, and cultural challenges.
Twenty-one Bridges students are currently enrolled at K-State; 65 Bridges students have
graduated with baccalaureate degrees from K-State; 35 have pursued advanced research
degrees or entered professional biomedical programs of study including five who are currently
enrolled in Ph.D. programs, six have completed master's degrees; and 17 are working on or
have completed medical related degrees. Community college students are ready to enroll in
Bridges pending funding. This proposal shows the solid support from all four colleges to
maintain a critical and successful path for Bridges students to enter the university in the
following ways: 1) by building relationships with the students and their families while at the
community colleges; 2) by bringing students and their families to K-State to help them become
familiar with the larger campus, the support staff, and previously matriculated Bridge students;
3) by providing an established, highly successful undergraduate research program, the
Developing Scholars Program, to support them academically and personally; and 4) by
providing seminars, workshops, lab experiences, and research internships to help students
explore their options in biomedical and behavioral sciences. Through the Bridges program
students are prepared to succeed in graduate school and establish thriving professional
careers. Kansas State University will continue to provide tuition for three years of study at the
university, thus removing what could have been an insurmountable obstacle. Each of the
community colleges will also continue to provide tuition scholarships to Bridges students to
complete their associate degrees. The overall goal of this project is to increase the number of
underrepresented students with baccalaureate degrees in biomedical and behavioral science
and to set into motion pathways designed to increase the number of Ph.D.s, M.D.s, and other
professional doctorates in the biomedical and behavioral sciences.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9923701
- **Project number:** 5R25GM119968-05
- **Recipient organization:** KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** JOHN B BUCKWALTER
- **Activity code:** R25 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $266,683
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2016-08-01 → 2022-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9923701

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9923701, Kansas Bridges to the Future (5R25GM119968-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9923701. Licensed CC0.

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