Students may be in only 1 concentration.  In order to have a robust and scholarly experience, students need to focus their interests and efforts within a given concentration. Students may attend, with permission, meetings of any concentration. With permission of their “home” concentration, this attendance may count towards their SC hours. For example, a student in Health Disparities may benefit from attending journal clubs in Public Health, Nutrition Research & Health and International Medicine.

SCP students are required to complete a scholarly capstone project by February of their fourth year. A capstone project is developed by the student under the auspices of the SC leader(s) and the project mentor. It requires addressing a question pertinent to the field of study in the concentration, including plans for assessment of results and impact. Students must gain approval for their capstone project from both their faculty leaders and from the director(s) of the SCP. This capstone project may be a paper, a presentation, or a service to MCOM and it should demonstrate the student’s growth through analytic, leadership, or creative processes. Capstone projects have included working in a biomedical research laboratory, assessing clinical efficacy of different therapeutic modalities, creating systems for better treatment of the underserved, developing learning modules for students in the MCOM pre-matriculation program, and improving systems to ensure patient safety. Medical student successes can be found under the RISE Student & Faculty Showcase tab.

There are different opportunities for finding project mentors. Some students may be aided by their concentration leader in terms of finding a mentor. The leaders have a history of working with faculty and community members whose work and interests are congruent with those of the concentration. Other students do in fact find their own mentors.

We make the information available in early December with the call for project proposals in January. Deadline is traditionally mid-March.

Students may do a scholarly project at a facility outside of MCOM. However, in addition to being mentored by an outside faculty member, these students would need to have local MCOM mentors as well. Scholarly projects involving human subject research conducted outside of USF require IRB approval from both institutions.

It is recommended that students utilize the break between the Year 1 and Year 2 to establish a foundation for their capstone project. If the student decides to undertake a project outside their concentration focus during this time frame, it cannot be used as the capstone project.

Any changes to the student’s status (including illness/injury, academic issues, and professionalism issues) after the awarding of a summer scholarly award will be re-assessed and acted upon. Students are required to inform the SCP Directors, Faculty Leaders and Project Mentors if they cannot fulfill the obligations of their scholarly projects due to academic remediation issues. Summer awards and participation in SCP opportunities are subject to review with possible pro-rating of the summer award amount, withdrawal of the award or suspension/termination of SCP opportunities based on the student’s status.

RISE provides several opportunities for students to present their scholarly work. There are a number of local meetings that give students excellent experience with presenting posters or oral reports. These venues allow for highlighting completed work as well as for showcasing works-in-progress. SCP students are expected to present their work, at minimum, one time at the USF HEALTH Research Day which takes place annually in February. Other local opportunities for presentation include the RISE Annual Student Symposium occurring in the fall and the Gallery of Scholarship in the spring for graduating students. In addition to local venues, SCP students have presented work both nationally and internationally.