MBRS RISE: Program for Underrepresented Students Prepares Students for Graduate School

Funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Minority Biomedical Research Support Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement (MBRS RISE) program at California State University, Dominguez Hills provides mentorship and development for underrepresented students in biology, chemistry, physics and psychology.

Two of the program’s graduates, Cheyenne Cummings and Marvin Malone, describe to Dateline how opportunities in MBRS RISE have broadened their horizons and led them on the path to pursue their graduate degrees.

Cheyenne Cummings
B.S., earth science/psychology

Coming directly from high school into college at Dominguez Hills, I didn’t know what to expect. Now looking back, I couldn’t have asked for anything more. If not for the meaningful connections I have developed with virtually all of my professors, I might not have survived the struggle through college, and I would never have thought about graduate school. Yet, great professors weren’t the only support I received as a student.

CSU Dominguez Hills has always, during my time here, strived to provide more opportunities to students then most colleges I have heard about. If it weren’t for a few key professors, especially Dr. Larry Rosen in psychology, who showed they cared about my education, I wouldn’t have decided to attend graduate school.

However, after being accepted to the MBRS RISE program, one of the many opportunities at CSUDH, I knew graduate school was in my future. My dream has always been to teach elementary and kindergarten students. Now, with my Ph.D., I can teach teachers how to teach.

I have been accepted and will be attending University of California, Riverside, in their developmental psychology doctoral program with a full scholarship. I have also applied to the Mentoring Summer Research Internship Program at UCR to work with Dr. Rebecca Richert, in a child cognitive lab conducting research on educational videos for children.

The MBRS RISE program helped me to focus on school and my research. Being part of it has educated me on the different problems in education, like the inequality in education of minorities. I love the fact that Dominguez Hills is culturally diverse and representative of the surrounding population. It has a large opportunity to affect a wider range of individuals. I want to teach at the college level, maybe someday at Dominguez Hills, and share what I’ve learned with others.

Mark Twain said, ‘Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you too, can become great.’

A lot of students here, like myself, were told at one point that they wouldn’t make it. But here I am, graduating and going to graduate school on a full ride. But I can’t take all the credit for that. If it weren’t for my mother, Dr. Rosen and the MBRS program, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

Marvin Malone
B.S., chemistry

About five years ago, I made one of the best decisions that I could have ever made and applied to California State University, Dominguez Hills. Being a student here has been a great experience for me, with the opportunity to learn from professors who are leaders in their fields as well as young professors who are on the verge of becoming leaders in their fields. I have also had the opportunity to work alongside future leaders, my fellow students, as a scholar in the MBRS RISE program.

If it were not for the support that I received from everyone in MBRS RISE and the faculty at CSUDH, I am sure things would be different. I would like to thank Dr. H. Leonardo Martinez, Dr. Laura Robles, the MBRS RISE staff, my fellow scholars and my family and friends.

My work as an undergraduate research assistant has helped shape me into the student and person that I am today. Now, I am a graduating senior getting ready to go to graduate school at Ohio State University, to earn my Ph.D. in chemistry. It is all because of the preparation, programs and my experiences here at Dominguez Hills.

When I first started the MBRS RISE program, I was interested in becoming an optometrist. But the more time I spent in the program, the more I realized that I like research, and more importantly, I learned that I like to solve problems. I am very interested in the field of nanotechnology and how it brings together all fields of science and medicine in order to achieve certain goals. I would like to conduct experimental work and focus on research that is going to potentially improve the way humans live.

I also realized that I wanted the opportunity to help shape the lives of minority students as it was done for me. I tell people all the time that if it were not for the MBRS RISE program on our campus, I don’t know where I would be. As of now, my career goals are to become an associate professor and have my own research lab where I can employ minority students to conduct research through programs like this. Because of the faculty and staff here, I am the student that I am. So when the time comes for me to teach, I would definitely consider teaching at Cal State Dominguez Hills.

Photo above: Cheyenne Cummings assisted Larry Rosen, professor of psychology and Nancy Cheever, assistant professor of communications, with their research on parenting styles and its effects on teenage MySpace.com users. They presented their research at the annual conference of the Western Psychological Association in Vancouver in early May. Photo courtesy of Cheyenne Cummings