National Institute of Health Bridges to Baccalaureate Internship
The Bridges to the Baccalaureate Program at the New York City College of Technology is described on their website as “funded by the National Institutes of Health, and provides support to underrepresented students make transitions at a critical stage in their development as scientists.”
This program provides a bridge between New York City College of Technology and Brooklyn College, to provide students with services including intensive academic advisement, peer mentoring and paid authentic research experiences.
The program recruits “students earning an associate degree (LAS, LAA, unclassified or unclassified health) at City Tech and facilitates their transfer to Brooklyn College to earn their Bachelor’s degree in biomedical or behavioral sciences (Biology, Chemistry, or Psychology). The program is designed for underrepresented students (minority, low-income).”
Benefits of the Program
- Customized Academic Success Plan
- Peer Mentor Initiative in Mathematics and Chemistry
- Paid Authentic Research Experiences
- $700 Research Skills Academy: Three-week training program that includes seminars, workshops and field trips
- $1,200/semester Second Year Experience: 10 weeks/semester of Faculty-mentored research
- $3,400 Summer Bridge Research: 8 weeks of immersive mentor research at Brooklyn College
- Opportunity to present at local & national scientific meetings
- Continued support at Brooklyn College
In my personal experience, I have only met several of the faculty mentors and constituents in the Bridges program. The majority of the employees affiliated with this program are New York City College of Technology Professors. Some of the employees I have worked closely with are Professor Pa Her, Professor Jean Hillstrom, Professor Amanda Lee Almond, Professor Armando Solis, Professor Pamela Brown and Professor Diana Samaroo. I have communicated with other Professors like Cheryl Carmichael remotely to process and complete Payment requests, but I never interacted with them in person.
In my opinion, this organization can be described as a small community with major connections to universities such as Brooklyn College, located in Flatbush Brooklyn. These connections afford the scholars the opportunity to spend significant amounts of time on the Brooklyn College campus, as well as various other CUNY campuses. The major benefit of this program is that each scholar has a mentor who will help each individual student develop their research interests, and narrow down what they want to focus on.
