Abstract: The University of North Texas (UNT) serves over 32,000 undergraduate and 7,000 graduate students of which 50% of the undergraduate population and 20% of the graduate population are underrepresented minority (URM). UNT is ranked by the Carnegie Classification as a Tier 1 institute, is a Hispanic Serving Institute, and is dedicated to providing quality mentoring to a diverse group of Ph.D. students. The UNT G-RISE mission is to provide a biomedical Ph.D. training program that is inclusive, culturally responsive, increases diversity, enhances scientific skill sets, develops trainee career and professional skill sets, provides opportunities to participants, and increases faculty development as a mentor. A central goal of the UNT G-RISE program is to increase the number of underrepresented groups who enter and complete a Ph.D. and enter into a career within the biomedical and behavior science field. To align with this goal, the objectives of this training program are to: 1) further develop an inclusive, diverse, and culturally responsive predoctoral training program;; 2) provide high-quality scientific training for Ph.D. students in the Biomedical Sciences;; 3) provide student participants with career and professional training;; and 4) enhance the Ph.D. mentoring experience for both students and mentors. To reach objective 1 we will strengthen our recruitment and retention efforts to further diversify the Ph.D. students within the Biomedical research field. To reach objective 2 we will engage faculty and career mentors. Students will be mentored to reach specific milestones within the program so that they can successfully defend their dissertation within five years of the program. Objective 3 will be met by providing the G-RISE trainee with experiences that better prepare them for their career track. Objective 4 is focused on enhancing the Ph.D. mentoring experience for students and mentors by implementing in a “Mentoring-the-Mentors” Plan. These efforts will facilitate student success and retention. The UNT G-RISE program will have two cohorts of ten students that begin in year 1 and year 3, respectively. We aim to have 90% of the students complete a Ph.D. within a biomedical related field and 80% enter into a career within academia, government, industry, or a non-profit that serves the biomedical research fields. The students and mentors will participate in a variety of program activities including mentoring discussions, career development activities, scientific and career development seminars and workshops, self- evaluation activities, and a conflict resolution workshop. This proposal was developed from university data and is widely supported by the departmental and upper administration. Thus, the UNT G-RISE activities will develop a truly inclusive Ph.D. training program that will strengthen the scientific and career skill sets of student participants and provide faculty the opportunity to further develop as mentors.
