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

Wheatly博士和她的同事将开展一项环境生物学本科生导师计划（UMEB），目标有三：（1）在教师导师的指导下，为身体残疾和少数民族/种族群体的学生提供长期的研究经验，（2）增加这些学生进入环境生物学研究生课程的机会，（3）促进环境生物学的跨学科方法，以建立课程和研究倡议。身体残疾的学生是科学领域中代表性最低的群体，而少数民族也仍然明显不足。 本科生参与者将从赖特州立大学（WSU，残疾服务的领导者）和威尔伯福斯大学（历史上的黑人大学）这两个群体中招募，其学生可以通过衔接协议获得WSU课程的学分。 华盛顿州立大学的研究人员已经建立了一个非常明显的，在环境压力，涉及本科生的校外资助计划。 有了适当的基础设施和态度，WSU教师将通过教学课程和长期的研究经验指导学生。 一个扩展的研究机会将使学生体验到研究的成功，并应导致增加两组学生在环境生物学的代表性。从两个目标群体的学生的申请材料将由一个选拔委员会审查，将根据在生物学和环境研究的兴趣表现出的能力接受10名学生。 从三个部门（生物科学，心理学，药理毒理学）的基础上资助的研究在环境压力的广泛领域，将学生接触到不同的概念，方法和有机体的方法选择了十名教师导师。 选定的教师都表现出有效的指导本科生从代表性不足的群体，其中三个是代表性不足的群体的成员。 他们都是志愿者，在进入研究实验室之前的暑假里，他们将学习一门必修课，这门课将是科学研究的生存指南。 然后，他们将进入一个选定的实验室至少一年，在那里他们将在一名教师的监督下进行研究。 对导师和学生的期望和责任有明确的定义和合同。 丰富的活动（项目实验室会议，社会活动，年度研讨会，电子出版），创建一个科学同行的社区，以及在专业发展的持续监测和积极咨询，应该有助于留住学生在程序。 学生将通过口头/海报演示和书面报告/手稿提交证明他们在研究中的成功。 一个咨询委员会将通过评估活动监测项目的总体成功情况。

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.