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In This Edition

February 25, 2021

Diversity Program Consortium Newsletter — Vol. 6, Issue 1
Consortium News 18
Research Digest 3
Consortium Events 1

NIH DPC Newsletter

Consortium News

DPC celebrates resilience of mentorship during National Mentoring Month

Coping with the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic has become not unlike a marathon. Read this issue of the DPC newsletter to learn about how mentors and mentees went the extra mile to close the distance between them.
For more information click here.

Tiny dogs, book clubs and other innovations DPC mentors use to support mentees in the age of COVID-19

In-class instruction, hands-on experiments and conferences bringing together students from across the nation to showcase research projects were all upended when COVID-19 broke out nearly a year ago.
For more information click here.

Q&A with DPC mentors

For National Mentoring Month in January 2021, we asked DPC mentors to respond to a brief questionnaire.
For more information click here.

Persevering, adaptable and determined: BUILD students share lessons learned while pursuing research goals during a prolonged pandemic

When asked what the biggest challenge during the last year was due to the COVID-19 pandemic, BUILD students were mostly unanimous: the loss of hands-on experience in the lab.
For more information click here.

CSULB BUILD program helps their community adapt and thrive during the pandemic era

As the 2020-2021 calendar continues to present twists and turns at just around every corner, it’s been quite the challenge to stay on top of all the moving pieces. However difficult, the CSULB BUILD community forged through those obstacles to keep involved with its student and alumni groups, opening up the floor to needed conversations about national issues.
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“Behind-the-scenes” BUILD mentor Dr. Kathy Lee Sutphin retires after 25 years at UMBC

Kathy Lee Sutphin, Ed.D., joined the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) as a political science student in 1992, after working as a journalist and while raising four daughters. Upon graduation, she found she loved the UMBC community so much that she didn’t want to leave—so she found a way to stay.
For more information click here.

BUILD PODER mentor Allen Lipscomb on mentoring during the pandemic

Allen Lipscomb, Ph.D. in psychology, serves many roles at Cal State University, Northridge’s campus. One of them is as a mentor in the undergraduate biomedical research training program, BUILD PODER, an NIH-funded initiative. Almost a year into the pandemic, Lipscomb shares about how he and his mentee have adjusted to doing things virtually.
For more information click here.

Giving back through mentoring: Spotlight on CSUN mentor Dr. Mariano Loza-Coll

Mariano Loza-Coll, Ph.D. in cell and molecular biology, has always had a passion for giving back. He demonstrates this not only through his research with drosophila melanogaster but also through his mentorship role in the undergraduate biomedical research training program, BUILD PODER, an NIH-funded initiative.
For more information click here.

Not a mentor in title, but action—spotlight on Amy Billizon of Project Pathways

Amy Billizon’s name is recognizable to every Xavier University of Louisiana (XULA) BUILD Project Pathways student and alum. No student enters the program without meeting her, and all experience her care. “Ms. Amy,” as the students affectionately call her, is the Program Manager of the Student Training and Research Enrichment Cores for Project Pathways. Though she is not an official mentor of the BUILD Program, she is the embodiment of everything a mentor should strive to be.
For more information click here.

Michelle Quillin BLaST Scientist of the Month for February, 2021

Michelle Quillin is a third-year BLaST scholar and a University of Alaska, Fairbanks (UAF) senior due to graduate in May 2021 with a bachelor’s of science degree in wildlife biology and conservation. Quillin, a Koyukon Athabascan, grew up in Fairbanks and is from the Interior village of Hughes, Alaska. She hopes to become a wildlife biologist and eventually a wildlife manager for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
For more information click here.

James McKay BLaST Scientist of the Month for January, 2021

University of Alaska, Fairbanks (UAF) senior James McKay has been a BLaST Undergraduate Research Experience (URE) trainee since the summer of 2018. McKay is pursuing a double degree in biological sciences and physics at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Born in Arizona, he grew up in Valdez, Alaska. He hopes to become a professor or work in the research industry one day.
For more information click here.

Being flexible and mindful: Reflections on mentoring from CSUN mentor Nelida Duran

Nelida Duran, Ph.D. in public health, strives to not only help underrepresented communities with her research, but also through her mentoring with the undergraduate biomedical research training program BUILD PODER, an NIH-funded initiative.
For more information click here.

MSU ASCEND explores mentoring strategies with new class

In fall 2020, MSU ASCEND introduced “Innovative Approaches to Health Science Research,” a new course supporting student-driven research proposals. Partnering with graduate students and faculty from the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM), the SCIE 200 class develops new mentoring relationships with undergraduate researchers in the MSU ASCEND program.
For more information click here.

SF BUILD engages Mentor Collective to advance near-peer mentoring in uncertain times

San Francisco State University’s BUILD program has partnered with Mentor Collective, an organization that helps universities run large-scale mentoring programs, to provide a digital platform for near-peer mentoring (i.e., advanced biology majors mentoring incoming biology students). The platform will help match hundreds of incoming undergraduates with senior students to develop peer-mentorships.
For more information click here.

NRMN Mentor Spotlight — Dr. Antentor Othrell Hinton, Jr.

Q&A with Dr. Hinton, a rising Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics and member of the Vanderbilt Diabetes Research and Training Center.
For more information click here.

BLaST faculty mentor Dr. Linda Nicholas-Figueroa awarded 2020 AAAS Fellow

The University of Alaska Fairbanks Biomedical Learning and Student Training (UAF BLaST) program supports researchers all over Alaska through many funding opportunities. Linda Nicholas-Figueroa, Ph.D., an associate professor of biology and chemistry at Iḷisaġvik College, is a BLaST faculty mentor. She is being recognized for her continuing dedication to introducing undergraduate students from all over Alaska to new levels of understanding in science by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) as a 2020 AAAS Fellow, one of the highest honors a faculty may receive.
For more information click here.

XULA alumni feature: Myles Bartholomew

Myles Bartholomew, a 2020 graduate from Xavier University of New Orleans and XULA BUILD Project Pathways alumnus, was featured as a panelist during a discussion about the sometimes jarring transition from a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) to a Primarily White Institution (PWI).
For more information click here.

BLaST supports UAS lab in whale-human interactions in Southeast Alaska

The University of Alaska Fairbanks Biomedical Learning and Student Training (BLaST) program supports researchers from all over Alaska through many professional development and funding opportunities. An example of the impact of this faculty support is the mentorship between BLaST Research Advising and Mentoring Professional (RAMP) Ellen Chenoweth and University of Alaska Southeast (UAS) faculty Jan Straley.
For more information click here.
Research Digest

Report: Enhancing Dissemination of Evidence-Based Models for STEM PhD Career Development

Professional Development Hub (pd|hub) recently published the report, Enhancing Dissemination of Evidence-Based Models for STEM PhD Career Development. This report presents findings from a convening of interdisciplinary and cross-sector stakeholders at the Janelia Research Campus of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
For more information click here.

The Science of Mentorship—new podcast from the National Academies of Science

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) published a new podcast called “The Science of Mentorship” from the Board on Higher Education and Workforce.
For more information click here.

Editorial—A Window of Opportunity Is Opening to Improve Immigrant Health: A Research and Practice Agenda

Steve Wallace, Ph.D., one of the UCLA Coordination & Evaluation Center’s principal investigators, co-wrote an editorial published in the American Journal of Public Health called “A Window of Opportunity Is Opening to Improve Immigrant Health: A Research and Practice Agenda.”
For more information click here.
Events

2021 NIH DPC Virtual Research Symposium

Event Date: Mon, Mar 29, 2021 to Fri, Apr 02, 2021
About Us

The NIH Diversity Program Consortium (DPC) Newsletter provides updates on activities at DPC sites, shares progress on collaborative efforts within the consortium, and highlights news and recent publications related to diversity and mentoring in the biomedical sciences.

The Diversity Program Consortium Coordination and Evaluation Center at UCLA is supported by Office of the Director of the National Institutes of Health / National Institutes of General Medical Sciences under award number U54GM119024.
Need Assistance? Please contact our support team: info@diversityprogramconsortium.org .