San Francisco State University (SFSU), University of California at Davis (UCD), University of California at San Francisco (UCSF), University of California San Diego (UCSD), and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have developed and initiated a cooperative graduate program to increase the number of underrepresented minorities that pursue biomedical research careers. This program is the first of its type between a California State University system and the University of California system. Our program goals are to increase the academic competitiveness of underrepresented minority students, and to provide these students with enhanced access to doctoral training by facilitating their transition from a master's degree program to a Ph.D. program. Students first earn a master's degree in either chemistry or biology at SFSU and then a Ph.D. in either chemistry, biochemistry, cell and developmental biology, genetics, animal behavior, microbiology or neurobiology at UCD, UCLA, UCSD or in biochemistry & biophysics, integrative biology, microbiology & immunology or pharmaceutical chemistry at UCSF. Our program is designed to provide significant financial support to give minority students the opportunity to focus on their graduate studies. Master's Bridges students at SFSU receive funding for a maximum of two years with an annual stipend of $18,000 plus payment of tuition. Doctoral students at UCD or UCSF will receive four years of support from the participating programs, currently ranging from $18,000 to $28,000 per year plus student tuition fees.

Features of our program include:

• Full admissioon to the master's degree program and provisional admission to a matching Ph.D. program.
  
• Optional intership in a laboratory at a UC campus during the summer prior to beginning their master's at SFSU*. Students may have the option of continuing and completing their thesis research at UCSF.
• Research training while investigating a research problem for the master's degree under close and supportive supervision of an SFSU or UCSF mentor while obtaining the master's degree.
  
• Formal application/admission to a doctoral program at a Ph.D. Partner Institution after the completion of the master's degree at SFSU.
  
• Assistance from both SFSU and UC mentors in obtaining postdoctoral and faculty positions.
  

*Pre-Enrollment Summer Research Internship (optional). Students work directly with participating UC campus professors and their research groups on projects of direct application to their proposed fields of graduate study. The students work full-time for eight weeks in the laboratory, participate in research discussions and conferences, present written and oral reports on their research, and interact as an integral part of the research groups.

Program Dates: September to August

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Last modified February 15, 2008