SWT Bridges to Baccalaureate program kicks off 2nd year

SAN MARCOS, TEXAS — Southwest Texas State University’s College of Science announces the second year of its Bridges to Baccalaureate program, a cooperative project between SWT and San Antonio’s Alamo Community College District.

The Bridges Program encourages minority students at Palo Alto, St. Philip’s, and San Antonio Community Colleges to participate in a summer research opportunity at SWT and to enter into the university system to achieve their bachelor’s degree in the sciences.

The Summer Research in 2000 included six students from the ACCD campuses participating in cell biology and chemistry research projects. This year, the Summer Research program will support fifteen students in various scientific fields. Workshops will be conducted at ACCD campuses January through March to inform students about the program and counsel prospective applicants on areas such as financial aid and application deadlines and procedures.

Currently, 30 students at ACCD are participating in a science traineeship which includes field trips to central Texas research facilities, scientific literature research and research presentations given by participating SWT science faculty. Half of these students will be accepted for participation in a Summer 2001 research experience at SWT. All students involved in the Bridges Program will have an SWT faculty mentor.

Bridges to Baccalaureate is funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health and sponsors student activities at SWT and the ACCD campuses. The program was originally funded through summer 2001, but has recently been granted a third year of funding by the NIH due to its success in the first year.

Faculty directing the Bridges programs at ACCD includes Dr. Timothy Nealon at St. Philip’s College Department of Natural Sciences, Linda Ibarra-Gonzales at Palo Alto College Department of Science, and Dr. Krishnan Madappat at San Antonio College Department of Chemistry.

For more information on the NIH Bridges to Baccalaureate Program, please contact the Departments of Science at the ACCD campuses or visit the Bridges web page on www.bio.txstate.edu.