Biomed Initiative to Maximize Student Development (IMSD)
Brown University is dedicated to ensuring that its scholarly community is enriched by individuals, who, through their different races and ethnicities, nationalities, gender identities, age, abilities, political beliefs, spiritual beliefs, economic status, and sexual orientation, contribute to an intellectually challenging and inclusive educational environment. The Initiative to Maximize Student Development is a new predoctoral program to enhance such activities and create a diverse environment in which all students contribute to an enriched graduate student experience.
IMSD Program Brochure
Program Improves Ph.D. Student Diversity
A new paper in the peer-reviewed journal CBE—Life Sciences Education describes a Brown University program that has significantly improved recruiting and performance of underrepresented minority students in its nine life sciences doctoral programs over the last four years.
Data in the paper show increases in applications, admissions, enrollments, test scores, grades and scientific publications and presentations among underrepresented minority students after implementation of the program called the Initiative to Maximize Student Development (IMSD).
NEW! Video tutorial on Image J and Photoshop
IMSD module leader Mark Johnson (Associate Professor of Biology, Dept. of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry) recently teamed up with Judith Nathanson, Senior Desktop Support Technician to produce a video tutorial on How to use Image J and Photoshop. The video was developed for use in the IMSD training module "Graphic Presentation of Scientific Data". Response to the video has been very positive, and the instructors are pleased to share this resource with our broader community.
BioMed Climate Survey Prize Winner
Congratulations to Catherine Burke Volle, the lucky winner of a Kindle Keyboard 3G! Catherine, a fifth year student in the MCB graduate program, was randomly selected to receive the incentive prize for participating in the 2012 BioMed Climate Survey. The annual survey, sponsored by the Brown IMSD program, provides the Division with anonymous feedback from graduate students regarding the quality of their training experience.
Module Leaders Workshop Promotes Improved Teaching & Learning
L to R: Profs. Christopher Schmid and Zhijin Wu, Dr. Kathy Takayama, and IMSD trainee Kirk Haltaufderhyde
IMSD faculty module leaders and senior scholars gathered together in August to participate in a teaching & learning workshop presented by Sheridan Center director, Dr. Kathy Takayama. This annual event provides an opportunity for faculty instructors and graduate student peer mentors to share best practices and plan for upcoming training modules.
SACNAS@Brown Chapter Established
SACNAS@Brown chapter officers (L to R):
King John Pascual, Natalie Chavez, Teresa Ramirez, Ayed Allawzi, Marcela Soruco, Kristin Beale.
Teresa Ramirez, Ph.D. candidate and IMSD trainee in Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology, helped establish a Brown University chapter of SACNAS, a national organization of scientists devoted to advancing Hispanics, Chicanos & Native Americans in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. SACNAS@Brown is OPEN TO ANYONE (undergrads, grads, post docs, faculty and staff) of all cultures and ethnicities. A special thanks to all who made this possible: Marcela Soruco (Vice President), Ayed Allawzi (Secretary), Kristin Beale (Treasurer), King John Pascual (Undergraduate Student Liaison) and Natalie Chavez and to our chapter advisors, Dean Adetunji and Dr. Mark Johnson, and all those that provided unconditional support to make this possible.
For further information, please contact: brown.sacnas@gmail.com
NIGMS Convenes TWD 2012 Meeting
The first meeting of the newly established TWD Division (Training, Workforce Development, & Diversity) of NIGMS was held June 12-15, 2012 in San Antonio, Texas. The meeting brought together for the first time the directors of the former MORE programs (IMSD, PREP, BRIDGES, RISE, SCORE, MARC & IRACDA), NIGMS T32 Program Directors and programs from the now defunct National Center for Research Resources. This restructuring and unification creates unique opportunities for the development of collaborations and partnerships that will help create a more diverse and competitive domestic scientific workforce. The changes also promote intellectually organic cross-fertilization and vertical integration of common interests and practices shared by all. In addition to the general presentations and discussions regarding structural changes, the 2012 TWD meeting included workshops on topics such as program evaluation, funding, GRE testing, training and tenure. Brown IMSD Program Director Professor Andrew G. Campbell led an interactive workshop session on How to Address the Challenge of Diversity in the Graduate Ranks: Good Practices Yield Good Outcomes.
Pollination with precision: How flowers do it
IMSD graduate student Kristen Beale and Professor Mark Johnson found that Arabidopsis, a convenient research plant, optimizes the distribution of pollen for successful reproduction. Credit: Mike Cohea/Brown University
Beale et al., Gamete Fusion Is Required to Block Multiple Pollen Tubes from Entering an Arabidopsis Ovule, Current Biology (2012), doi:10.1016/j.cub.2012.04.041
Read more
Brown IMSD Presentation Receives NPA Award
A presentation of Brown IMSD's skill-based training modules received 1 of 4 "Innovation in Action" poster awards at the 2011 Annual Meeting of the National Postdoctoral Association (NPA) held March 25-27th on the NIH campus. The poster entitled "Brown's IMSD Grant Addresses NPA Core Competencies" was recognized for its content and promise as an emerging program with the potential to impact the training of postdoctoral fellows
Brown IMSD Poster
IMSD PI & Program Director, Dr. Andrew G. Campbell, ran a ‘How To’ and ‘Best Practices’ Session as part of the Mentoring Symposium at the 50th annual meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology
(ASCB; http://www.ascb.org/). Much of the presentation was modeled on Dr. Campbell’s regularly taught IMSD training module, ‘Demystifying the PhD Training Experience: Strategies for Academic & Personal Success in Grad School’ (http://biomed.brown.edu/imsd/training/).
Sheridan Center
The Teaching Exchange newsletter Featured IMSD article!
"Advancing the Culture of PhD Learning and Scholarship in Biology and Health Sciences"
