ADEPT Program

Advancing Diversity by Educating the Professors of Tomorrow (ADEPT)

Mission and Leadership

Biotechnology is highly interdisciplinary, bringing together basic and applied research approaches across the life sciences and engineering to solve problems in agriculture, health care and natural resource management. It is critical that diverse perspectives are brought to bear the complex global challenges addressed by biotechnology research and that students along this career path have access to mentors and role models from diverse backgrounds.

CAMPOS - Mary Lou and Ray The Biotechnology Program serves as the administrative home of ADEPT, under the leadership of Co-I Denneal Jamison-McClung (Biotechnology Program) and PI Karen McDonald (Distinguished Professor Emerita, Chemical Engineering). Pilot funding by the University of California-Hispanic Serving Institutions Doctoral Diversity Initiative (UC-HSI DDI) has allowed us to develop the ADEPT project with HSI partners at Sacramento State University currently led by Prof. Kathie Reynolds.

We are also pleased to partner with the UC Davis Center for the Advancement of Multicultural Perspectives on Science (CAMPOS) program and the interdisciplinary NSF IntBio: Integrative Demography research project. The ADEPT leadership team has gathered a distinguished group of STEM faculty mentors from UC Davis and Sacramento State University who are committed to promoting diversity, equity and inclusion.

Participating Faculty and Administrators

Executive Committee

Faculty Mentors

ADEPT Trainees

We have recruited a diverse group of STEM graduate students from Sacramento State and UC Davis interested in exploring academic research careers and the professoriate. Over the past several years, ADEPT Fellows have participated in:

1) The Path-to-the-Professoriate (P2P) Online Workshops and Mentoring Network - a catalytic cross-institutional program to educate and prepare graduate students from historically underrepresented groups for transitioning to the Professoriate. Past workshops have included training on CV preparation, honing soft skills, science communication, building mentor networks and preparing for faculty interviews. Future workshops may include training on bioethics, translational research and team science, best practices for promoting STEM diversity, tips for college teaching and maintaining work-life balance.

2) ADEPT Summer Research Fellowships. Two doctoral student awardees have received support for summer research projects, to date:

Angela Encerrado (UC Davis, Environmental and Agricultural Chemistry) - Angela is working on issues related to honey bee health and has won recognition for her work via the campus Jastro Shields Award, as well as the UC LFRP 2023 AAUW In-Residence National Laboratory Graduate Fellowship.
Elton Kane (UC Davis, Plant Biology) - Elton's research is focused on genetic crop improvement (e.g., understanding loss/gain-of-function mutations) with the goal of creating biofortified and abiotic stress tolerant crops. He is also interested in crop-climate modeling to understand the potential impacts of climate change on crop performance.

3) Sac State Faculty Job Shadows - A number of UC Davis doctoral students interested in faculty careers in a comprehensive, teaching-focused setting will connect with Sacramento State University faculty for e-mentoring and the potential to visit campus for one or more "day-in-the-life" job shadow experiences.

Sebastian Perez-Orozco (UC Davis, Microbiology) - Sebastian's research aims to understand host-microbe interactions in the gut, specifically how nutrient availability drives gut colonization by bacterial pathogens and pathobionts. Prof. Chris Lopez (Sacramento State) is serving as a resource for faculty career explorations.

For summer 2024 and beyond, partnerships between Sacramento State University and UC Davis faculty will provide the framework for the development of a mentor-mentee network to broadly support trainee professional development and exploration of faculty careers.

Professional Development Resources for Graduate Students

Mentorship and Networking

College Teaching

Postdoctoral Fellowship Programs and Positions

Finding Faculty Jobs

ADEPT's Historical Foundations

The ADEPT pilot program has been built on the Biotechnology Program's expertise in graduate student training and mentoring, as well as program leaders' familiarity with equity and inclusion challenges faced by early career STEM professionals from historically marginalized groups gained during their work in the UC Davis ADVANCE program (NSF HRD 1209235, PI Linda Katehi). The ADEPT leadership works closely with UC Davis Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (VC Renetta Garrison Tull) via the Center for the Advancement of Multicultural Perspectives on Science (CAMPOS) program to maximize regional impact. In recent years, VC Tull participated as a member of the National Academies of Sciences Engineering and Medicine - Committee on Effective Mentoring in STEMM. The committee's report delves into best practices for mentoring and highlights challenges that remain:

"The nation’s federal investment in broadening participation over the last 40 years has yielded observable increases in the STEMM baccalaureate and graduate degrees attained by individuals from underrepresented groups. They are part of the fastest-growing sociodemographic groups in the U.S. population. The challenge remains, how can the talent of these individuals be effectively developed once they are enrolled in STEMM degree programs? We hope that this report informs practice, research, and theory on mentorship in STEMM as part of the solution to address this challenge."
Angela Byars-Winston, Chair, Committee on the Science of Effective Mentoring in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 2019. The Science of Effective Mentorship in STEMM. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.