# Riverside Bridges to the Baccalaureate Program (Riverside B2B)

> **NIH NIH R25** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE · 2020 · $185,462

## Abstract

Project Summary
The School of Medicine at UCR proposes to create a research education program to facilitate transfer of
students into Biomedical and Behavioral science majors, with the ultimate goal of increasing participation of
underrepresented minority groups in research-oriented careers in these areas. Many underrepresented
minority (URM) students have less access to high quality science instruction, resources and enriching
opportunities at all stages of public education. African Americans, Chicano/Latino, Native Americans, Hawaiian
and Alaskan Natives, Pacific Islander or socio-economically disadvantaged students make up a small
percentage of science teachers in K-12 as well as higher education, and are even more underrepresented in
biomedical and behavioral science fields requiring post-graduate degrees.
The proposed program, Riverside Bridges to the Baccalaureate (Riverside B2B) will be established between
Riverside City College (RCC) and the University of California Riverside (UCR) to identify students committed to
pursuing a career in science and facilitate their transfer and successful completion of Baccalaureate degrees in
STEM majors, with a specific focus on biomedical and behavioral science-related research. The program
contains interventions and support services designed to substantially improve the overall two-year graduation
rate for RCC Bridges Scholars, to help them achieve graduation in a normative two-year window following
matriculation at UCR, and to address the causes of URM attrition in STEM programs. Specific program
components include: compensated research experiences to stimulate greater awareness of career options in
the biomedical and behavioral sciences and to reduce the necessity of working in non-academic jobs; peer and
faculty mentoring that begins before RCC Bridges Scholars transfer to UCR; and a summer “boot camp” to
familiarize incoming students with UCR's course structure and student support services.
By creating a program that bridges the community college and four-year university education and provides
adequate preparation before and mentoring after transfer, we believe we can overcome these disadvantages
and improve the success and persistence of URM transfer students in biomedical and behavioral sciences at
the University of California, Riverside.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9981760
- **Project number:** 5R25GM119975-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE
- **Principal Investigator:** BYRON D. FORD
- **Activity code:** R25 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $185,462
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-08-10 → 2022-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9981760

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9981760, Riverside Bridges to the Baccalaureate Program (Riverside B2B) (5R25GM119975-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9981760. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*