Thank you for your interest in the Bridges to Stem Cell Research (BSCR) program! Stem cell biology is one of the fastest growing areas of biomedical and biotechnology fields. The BSCR program provides an excellent opportunity for students aspiring to incorporate stem cell biology into their careers. The BSCR program aims to provide the students accepted into this program (BSCR Scholars) with many skills necessary for a successful internship at one of our collaborating institutions. The BSCR program requires full-time commitment from May 30th, 2024 through December 20th, 2025. Please review the BSCR Program and Timeline  carefully (all items on those lists are required by CIRM).

 

This program can only accept CSUF undergraduate students who will have completed (or are currently enrolled in) at least one of the following courses: BIOL 302, BIOL 303, BIOL 309 or CHEM 421. The BSCR curriculum is closely aligned with Cellular and Developmental Biology (C&D) and Molecular and Biotechnology  (MBB) concentrations. Sucessful completion of all the BSCR courses fulfills all the upper-division biology elective requirements except Gateway courses (i.e., BIOL 302 & BIOL 303 for C&D, and BIOL 309 & either BIOL 302 or CHEM 421 for MBB).

 

BSCR Scholars will be provided with a tuition waiver up to $3,500 for Spring 2025 and Fall 2025 semesters, and a monthly stipend of $3,000/month during their 12-month internship in 2024 ($36,000 total stipend). Depending on your student status the stipend may affect your Financial Aid and Income Tax liability.

 

Application must be completed by midnight on April 08th, 2024 8:59 AM, using the following online form: BSCR 2024 Application . Since certain responses are mandatory and required to proceed to the next page of the application, we recommend that you review the questions (here ) and gather the necessary information prior to starting. You can stop and start the application from the same spot you left off, provided that you use the same computer.

 

The BSCR program strongly prefers that ALL recommenders/referees complete the Online Recommendation Form instead of submitting a standard recommendation letter. The questions on the Recommendation Form can be viewed in advance here: (attached file). If recommenders have already prepared a letter, then please request that they also complete the ratings questions in the Online recommendation form; the text boxes can be left blank, except for stating that a written letter has also been submitted to the BSCR Program Coordinator at stemcell@fullerton.edu.  

 

The applicant's Titan Degree Audit (TDA) will be downloaded from the CSUF portal. Prospective applicants will be invited for an interview by email (by 4/12/2024), and interviews will be scheduled the week of April 15th, 2024. The applicants selected as BSCR Scholars will be notified by May 1st, 2024. The Scholars will start their pre-internship training at CSUF on May 29th, 2024. All students joining the program must make sure that their graduation date is after November, 2025.

 

BSCR 2024 Application can also be accessed by copy-pasting this URL: https://fullerton.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bfPvvCgnMSwTP6e

to print the application download from here or https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ta731yzqltdrpkeuokkfe/BSCR-COMPASS-Application-due-April-8th-2024.pdf?rlkey=3cnetrsoe45chr3uap7v8mbr6&dl=0