Border Latino and American Indian Summer Exposure to Research (BLAISER) was created to address health disparities in Arizona’s ethnically diverse and fast-growing communities. This cutting edge 10-week, undergraduate research experience provides an extraordinary laboratory training opportunity, pairing the junior and senior level student-scholars with preeminent UA health sciences researchers. This is a premier research experience for undergraduate students from underrepresented backgrounds arming them with skills to make them competitive and successful in their pursuit of post-secondary education and research. 

This program is held annually in the summer to allow students the opportunity to immerse themselves on campus at the University of Arizona – the next program runs June 7 to August 11, 2021. A maximum of twenty students will be accepted annually.

For 2021 the Program will be held from  June 7 to August 11.  Visit Blaiser for more information.

Program Highlights

• Mentorship by a UA biomedical researcher or medical scientist working on translational research
• Master the medical and graduate application process
• Learn about minority health disparities
• Participation in workshops on GRE and MCAT in order to make students more competitive
• Travel to Nogales AZ and Sells AZ in order to learn about health disparity issues in the border region.
• Create and present a research poster
• Share experiences with students that are pursuing similar goals and objectives
• Present research at the UA Summer Research Conference

Student Eligibility

• Current Junior status or beyond
• Cumulative 3.25 GPA
• Special attention to: Latinos, Native Americans and African Americans, populations that are underrepresented in the biomedical and health sciences, and Arizona residents
• Currently majoring in: biology, chemistry, physiology, microbiology, engineering, computer sciences, and similar fields
• U.S. Citizen/U.S. Permanent Resident card holder

Program Benefits

• $3,000 stipend
• On-campus housing for non-UA students, paid by the program (subject to availability due to COVID-19)
• Six units of upper-division graded undergraduate research
• Professional MCAT and GRE preparation program
• Gain hands-on experience conducting research

Application

For the next summer 2021 application, the following items will be required:

• A completed application
• Two letters of recommendation
• Recent unofficial transcript

APPLY HERE!