Individual PAESMEM Award: Nomination of Julio J. Ramirez

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Dr. Julio J. Ramirez is a behavioral neuroscientist. He obtained his Ph.D. in Psychology from Clark University and conducted his postdoctoral work in neuroscience at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Ramirez joined the Davidson College Department of Psychology in 1986 and in 1998 was named the first R. Stuart Dickson Professor of Psychology, an honor that acknowledges his commitment to science and science education. Dr. Ramirez' work has positively impacted both undergraduate students of neuroscience and faculty members teaching courses in undergraduate neuroscience across the nation. Dozens of Davidson students who have worked with Dr. Ramirez on independent study projects and as laboratory assistants have gone on to pursue postgraduate degrees in neuroscience, psychology or medicine. Indeed, he has involved well over a hundred undergraduate students in his research program since 1981. During the past 22 years at Davidson, Dr. Ramirez has provided undergraduate students, the majority of whom were from underrepresented groups, with research experiences in his laboratory. These research opportunities have yielded significant experiential learning for young minds, not only in the laboratory, but also through co-authored papers and presentations at national and international conferences. A total of 45 women and six men from underrepresented groups who worked with him are either presently pursuing doctoral level degrees in the biomedical and health sciences or have already been awarded doctorates in the sciences, medicine, dentistry, or veterinary medicine. Dr. Ramirez' reach goes far beyond the walls of Davidson College. He co-founded the national organization, Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience in 1991 and the Journal of Undergraduate Neuroscience Education in 2002. In 2004, Dr. Ramirez created a national mentoring program entitled Support of Mentors and their Students (SOMAS) that has to date supported 48 faculty and their students conducting summer research at their home institutions. In 2008, the SOMAS program was renamed "Support of Mentors and their Students from Underrepresented Minority groups" (SOMAS-URM) and restructured to strengthen the engagement of underrepresented individuals in neuroscience by creating a program tailored to their needs. The SOMAS-URM Program addresses two important observations made in recent studies. The Program provides a path for research experiences for underrepresented students working in collaboration with the faculty at their home institutions with the intent of enhancing their competitiveness for entry into scientific careers. The Program aims to enhance the mentoring abilities of junior faculty to strengthen a key aspect of the undergraduate research experience, which has been reported to be the weakest aspect of the undergraduate research experience. The SOMAS-URM Program has the potential to serve as a model for a variety of summer undergraduate research and the intensive one-on-one mentoring framework has already been shown to promote the recruitment and retention of women and underrepresented minorities in the sciences.