Thirteen years ago, when HSPH Professor of Biostatistics Louise Ryan was writing a renewal application for one of the department's training grants, she found herself wishing there were more efforts to entice people of diverse ethnic backgrounds into her classroom and profession. But the real spark came when she visited several historically black colleges and universities and learned first-hand about long-standing injustices in educational opportunities for minorities. That spark led to a new internship designed to attract mathematically talented minority students and introduce them to the field.

Since then, the Summer Program in Quantitative Sciences (http://biosun1.harvard.edu/diversity/summer/spb-intro.html) has evolved into an intensive four-week introduction to biostatistics, epidemiology, and public health research. This year, the undergraduate participants come from studies in biology, international relations, psychology, and business administration.

As part of their introduction, the students attended a day-long workshop at HSPH in June designed to expose them to a professional conference. The workshop was sponsored by the Department of Biostatistics, the National Institutes of Health, and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts funded the workshop.

Most of the previous students in the program have gone on to graduate school, said program administrator Isabelle Anguelovski. A number of recent summer program alumni are now HSPH graduate students.

Front row (l to r): Sabrina Khan, Jennifer Bonds, Ijeoma Okeigwe, Ugonna Ijeoma, Dominique Hill, and Nabihah Kara. Back row (l to r): Morjoriee White, Dominic Farris, Fatumo Guled, Sharrelle Barber, David Seng, and Eric Figueroa Perez

--CCM

RAP Internship 2005

The Summer Research Apprenticeship Program (RAP) brings talented high school students who are interested in public health to the School for seven weeks each summer. Front row (l to r): Colleen McGillicuddy, Qinrui Pang, Cindy Gonzalez, Richard Peng. Back row (l to r): Ashlie Tyler, Huijun Liao, Hubert Lubin, Jr.

DBS Internship 2005

The Division of Biological Sciences Undergraduate Summer Internship Program for Minority Students brings promising students to the School each summer to conduct research projects under the guidance of a faculty mentor. First row (l to r): Vanessa Reese, Lizamarie Bachier-Rodriguez, Anna Lee, Omari Sheehy, Benson Okeiyi, Marie Hampton; Second row (l to r): Javier Aguilar, Sharifa Mtingwa, Alexis Gonzales-Black; Third row (l to r): Marielena Bachier-Rodriguez, Kerone Walker, Imilce Rodriguez-Fernandez; Fourth row (l to r): Bruce Nmezi, Divine Nininahazwe, Damani Taylor; Fifth row: Kenneth Drake