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The Research Enhancement for BUILDing Detroit (ReBUILDetroit) program is led by the University of Detroit Mercy with research partner Wayne State University and pipeline partner Henry Ford College. A unique feature of ReBUILDetroit is its early recruitment of underrepresented students, prior to their start as freshman, and subsequent intense mentoring of students throughout their undergraduate careers. The program combines high impact pedagogy with progressive and sustained development of a student’s interest in biomedical-related research endeavors. College skills and research interest is ‘jump-started’ during the Summer Enrichment Program (SEP) just prior to the beginning of freshman year. The program includes four years of intensive academic advising, mentoring, and cohort building through a Learning Community spanning the consortium, which will now include alumni (with first cohort graduating in May 2019) to serve as near-peer mentors. Entering Scholars are first exposed to the research activities of the current Scholars during the pre-freshman SEP, and then begin developing their own skills, and thus confidence, through specialized Research Method (RM) and CURE classes in their freshman year. These activities prepare them for at least three additional summers of mentored research activity in laboratories across the campuses of the two consortium institutes.
Scholars are provided with multiple opportunities for biomedical research career exploration and preparation for selecting and applying to graduate programs, including working with faculty and support staff to develop individual development plans. Because some graduates may need additional time to make this transition, for BUILD 2, we are developing a post-baccalaureate program that will allow Scholar graduates to continue to develop the skills and confidence through a mentored program, while also building their academic credentials, and competitiveness for PhD programs in biomedical research.
The ReBUILDetroit program has a high retention rate, improved first-year GPA performance from the control, and significant gains in students’ sense of belonging and research identity.
