A Pipeline Project to Enhance Hbcu Student Led Research Projects

Background:

The W.K. Kellogg African American Public Health Fellowship and Development Program was initiated in 2003 to build a synergistic research network to increase interactive health disparities research among faculty and students from the University of South Carolina and South Carolina's Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

Methods:

Program activities include training for HBCU faculty to increase their research efforts on campuses; scholarships and structured training for African-American students at South Carolina's HBCUs who express interest in pursuing careers in public health and health disparities research; and structured activities that introduce high school students to the career development process, academic preparation, health conditions and major diseases that plague the African-American community. As part of research training activities, HBCU students from Claflin University and Morris College were matched with an experienced “Research Partner” and expected to develop a research proposal based on secondary analysis of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data set.

Results:

Through this process students were able to critically examine public health issues while gaining an understanding of:

1. developing innovative and measurable research questions

2. conducting a thorough literature review

3. accessing, navigating and extracting data from a large national data set

4. creating an analysis plan according to hypotheses

Conclusion:

Mentoring is a key component of undergraduate research development. Resulting student presentations on risk factors for Type II diabetes in older, obese African-American women and risk factors for Type II diabetes in children under 12, will be shared to highlight student accomplishments.