Academic Preparation and Outreach (APO) staff attend two major undergraduate research conferences in the fall. The first of these conferences is the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS). This is a society of scientists dedicated to fostering the success of Hispanic/Chicano and Native American scientists—from college student to professionals—to attain advanced degrees, careers and positions of leadership in science.  The key sponsors for this event are government agencies, national laboratories, educational institutions, businesses and other organizations and include (but are not limited to): the Center for Research Resources, the Science Education Partnership Award, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the Office of Research on Minority Health, the Indian Health Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Security Agency, NSF / Geoscience, the U.S. Department of Energy/Life Sciences Division.

The second conference is the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS). This is the largest professional conference for minority students and is designed to encourage underrepresented minority students to pursue advanced training in STEM.  The conference also provides the approximately 1,200 faculty mentors, program advisors, directors and administratos who attend with resources for facilitating students’ success.  The conference is sponsored by National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), Division of Workforce Development,and Diversity (TWD) and managed by the American Society for Microbiology (ASM). 

A consortium of 46 California public and private colleges and universities plans the Forum (the APO Director is an active Committee member). It is designed to meet the needs of advanced undergraduates and master’s candidates from institutions in northern and southern California, who belong to groups that have been historically or are currently underrepresented in doctoral-level programs. These groups include: African Americans, American Indians, Chicanos/Latinos, Filipinos, Pacific Islanders, Asian American women, and Asian American men in the arts, humanities, and social and behavioral sciences. Approximately 1,600 pre-selected, high-achieving undergraduate and master’s students from southern California institutions attend this event. The students explore graduate opportunities and resources by participating in numerous workshops throughout the day. Approximately 300 recruiters are expected from all over the country, including some of the nation’s most highly rated universities. Representatives from graduate programs leading to academic Master’s and/or Ph.D. degrees are invited to participate in a recruitment fair that will take place concurrently with other planned activities. This event is open to all disciplines except medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, business, and law, all of which have their own recruiting networks. Students are transported to this event by chartered buses and vans, free of charge. Next year’s form will be hosted by University of San Diego on Saturday, October 27, 2018.  Approximately 80 UCR students will be attending the event. 

We continue to develop cooperative working relationships with the CSU campuses’ MARC/MBRS, LSAMP and McNair directors as well as with our own alumni, college offices and departments. We conduct workshops geared towards funneling students who are already in specialized programs to UC campuses.  In addition to conducting workshops on applying and financing graduate school, our workshops establish partnerships with CSU campuses that support other activities.  For example, as part of a workshop event, we may invite a faculty member and/or graduate student to accompany a APO staff member, selected on the basis of the discipline areas of the audience (i.e., sciences, engineering, liberal arts, etc.). These faculty and students will complement APO staff with their working knowledge of the main areas/program offerings in individual programs/departments. Typically, students’ specific areas of interest are known in advance of these workshops. We also invite groups of students to visit the UCR campus and meet with faculty in their area of interest. These campus visits have proven to be a very effective means of recruiting excellent students into our graduate programs. We have found that the students themselves, by word of mouth, are the best ambassadors in promoting UCR's graduate programs.