The U.S. needs a strong, diverse workforce of PhD-level scientists and engineers to meet emerging healthcare challenges. The long-term goal of the renewed UTSA ESTEEMED Program is to cultivate an exceptional cohort of lower division Biomedical Engineering (BME) and Chemical Engineering (CME) undergraduates (UGs), who are underrepresented (UR) racially, economically, or through disability. Trainees will bring diverse viewpoints and approaches to address these healthcare challenges. ESTEEMED trainees will develop strong academic and research foundations, as well as the drive and vision to complete doctoral training programs and launch into impactful biomedical research careers. UTSA is an excellent training ground for these future scientists, with a large UR student population, excellent academic programs, and laboratories that perform high quality biomedical research and embrace UG researchers. The first ESTEEMED program laid strong foundations for success. Now the program will be refined to serve students with a bioengineering focus. The proposed ESTEEMED program requests 13 training positions in its first year and 12 thereafter to support first- and second- year students. We hypothesize that we will build strong foundations for our trainees and start their trajectory to a doctorate, through accomplishment of the following Specific Aims: #1 support academic achievement with science refreshers, tutoring, and mentoring; #2 support growth as a scientist and science communicator; #3 instruct trainees about diverse doctoral-level career options; and #4 promote leadership development and address known barriers to UG and Ph.D. degree attainment in UR populations. The activities designed to achieve these Aims will commence in a pre-Freshman Bridge Program, extend throughout all semesters of the freshman and sophomore years, and include part-time research through the academic years and two full-time intramural and extramural summer research programs. Eighteen diverse UTSA research mentors (8 Hispanic and 6 women) with active biomedical-focused research programs have been recruited because of their strong passion for mentoring UGs. UTSA was awarded a new MARC Honors Research Training Program in 2022 that will provide upper division training. The success of ESTEEMED will be measured quantitively by the following outcomes: 95% of trainees will complete their degree, 75% will progress to MARC and 75% of MARC matriculants will pursue a PhD, 90% trainees will keep a GPA>3.4, all sophomore trainees will present at several local and one national conference, and 30% will gain authorship by graduation. Qualitatively, success will be reflected by reported increases in confidence and integration into science culture. Program success will provide evidence for inclusion of additional freshman interventions on campus. ESTEEMED will be run by a leadership team that has an established record of success in UG research training programs. UTSA’s administration has committed substantial financial and operational support for ESTEEMED.

Increasing the number of researchers from scientifically-underrepresented groups will promote biomedical advancement in the United States. The proposed ESTEEMED Research Program will identify high-achieving underrepresented freshmen and support them as they develop as biomedical scientists. The students will engage in meaningful year-round biomedical research projects; receive mentoring, academic assistance, and personal and professional development trainings; and develop the credentials needed to enter UTSA’s MARC Honors Research Training Program as juniors, and later complete biomedical doctoral degrees and attain leadership positions in the scientific community.