URM: Undergraduate Nurturing Opportunities (UNO) in the Biological Sciences in the Southwestern U.S.

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The University of New Mexico's URM program, called Undergraduate Nurturing Opportunities (UNO), will recruit students and prepare them for graduate study and a career in research. All students will have up to 3 years of intensive research with any of faculty mentors from the Museum of Southwestern Biology, the Sevilleta Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) site, and the Biology Department. The Program will target sophomores, especially highly qualified underrepresented minority students. Students will be recruited from UNM, Dine College, Central New Mexico Community College, Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI) and other nearby institutions in the Southwest. The Program will use a multi-level mentoring approach, involving students at various academic stages, including those who have successful transitioned to graduate school. In addition to Faculty Mentors, the program will include a rotating Graduate Mentor and a Peer Mentor from the university's Honors Program. The UNO project will directly increase diversity and the level of participation by underrepresented minority students in advanced graduate training and research careers. The project will strengthen UNM's partnerships with the regional colleges from which participants are expected to come. UNO also includes seminars and other student enhancement activities. Students will write a research paper and present the results in a conference. In addition, UNO participants will include their families and friends from the first day in the program, thereby extending the network of student support. An indirect outcome from the program will be to recruit many who would have otherwise not considered university study. It is expected that the program will increase graduation rates and professional life-path choices for the students. More information can be found at http://www.msb.unm.edu/.