UMEB: Wright State University partners with Wilberforce University to yield RESULTS (Research in Environmental Stress for the Underrepresented: Long Term Studies)

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Dr. Wheatly and her colleagues will conduct a program of Undergraduate Mentoring in Environmental Biology (UMEB), with three objectives: (1) to provide long-term research experience under the guidance of a faculty mentor for students with physical disabilities and from ethnic/racial minority groups, (2) to increase the entry of these students into graduate programs in environmental biology, and (3) to foster interdisciplinary approaches to environmental biology upon which to build curricular and research initiatives.Students with physical disabilities are the most underrepresented group in science, while ethnic minorities also remain significantly underrepresented. Undergraduate participants will be recruited from these two groups both at Wright State University (WSU, a leader in disability services) and at Wilberforce University (a historically Black university), whose students can get credit for WSU coursework through an articulation agreement. Researchers at WSU have built a highly visible, extramurally funded program in environmental stress that involves undergraduate students. With appropriate infrastructure and attitude, WSU faculty members will mentor students through didactic coursework and long-term research experience. An extended research opportunity will enable students to experience research success and should result in increasing the representation of both groups in environmental biology.Application materials from the two targeted groups of students will be reviewed by a selection committee, which will accept 10 students based on demonstrated competence in biology and interest in environmental research. Ten faculty mentors were selected from three departments (Biological Sciences, Psychology, Pharmacology & Toxicology) based on funded research in the broad area of environmental stress that will expose students to diverse conceptual, methodological, and organismal approaches. The selected faculty members have all demonstrated effective mentoring of undergraduates from underrepresented groups, and three of them are members of underrepresented groups. They are all volunteering their time as mentors.During the summer before students enter the research lab, they will take a required course that will be a survival guide to scientific research. They will then enter a selected lab for a minimum of one year, where they will perform research under the supervision of a faculty member. Expectations and responsibilities for mentors and students are clearly defined and contracted. Enrichment activities (project lab meetings, social events, yearly symposium, electronic publishing) that create a community of scientific peers, as well as continuous monitoring and active counseling in professional development, should help to retain students in the program. Students will demonstrate their success in research through oral/poster presentations and written reports/manuscript submissions. An advisory board will monitor overall success of the project through assessment exercises.