In the crowded Genentech Hall atrium, a PROPEL scholar presents their poster on language features in Alzheimer’s patients to a UCSF faculty member. The hall is packed with posters by other PROPEL scholars, post-baccalaureate researchers with hopes of matriculating to grad school someday, many with their sights set on UCSF itself. The poster session serves as a break between scholar presentations and panels as part of the day-long PROPEL Symposium, an event that, now with a scholar roster numbering over 100, the program can now more than support with science from its own members. It’s a celebration of science strides, scholar success, and anticipation of what’s yet to come.
/w=3840,quality=90,fit=scale-down)
PROPEL (Post-baccalaureate Research Opportunities to Promote Equity in Learning) was founded 4 short years ago, with an inaugural cohort of six scholars. This year 29 scholars will be moving on to grad school, including 10 to UCSF, joining a total of 47 scholars matriculating to grad school over the life of the program. The program’s growth and staggering number of scholar successes is made possible by PROPEL’s unique funding structure. Nearly a third of PROPEL scholars are funded by NIH Diversity Supplements. The remaining scholars are funded by their individual faculty members, leveraging “institutional wealth” and decoupling program size from funding limits. Small donations to PROPEL therefore translate to large impact. PROPEL’s unbound size has knock-on effects, like the creation of a scholars’ council and greater scholar community and networking. And PROPEL’s rapid growth indicates a need for this type of programming outstrips current programming efforts.
Now PROPEL, like its scholars, has its sights set on other universities. With the help of Solving for Science it’s now working on sharing the model to create a network of PROPEL programs at colleges and universities nationwide. Find out more at https://propel.ucsf.edu/national-initiative
—Jessica Allen, PROPEL/CIRM Administrator