URM: Mentoring Minority Students to Graduate Success through Year-Round Research Projects

URM：通过全年研究项目指导少数民族学生取得成功

• 批准号: 0933957
• 负责人: William Terzaghi
• 金额: $ 70.43万
• 依托单位: Wilkes University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-09-01 至 2013-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0933957&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: URM; Mentoring; Minority; Students; Graduate

This award to Wilkes University is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). Wilkes University will establish an Undergraduate Research and Mentoring (URM) program to increase the number of under-represented minority students who pursue graduate studies in the biological sciences. A cohort consisting of four students will be recruited each year in the first four years of the grant, and NSF funds will be used to support each undergraduate participant for a total of two calendar years. Over the 5-year period of the grant, a total of sixteen students will participate in the program. Participants will enter the program in the summer following their sophomore year, when they join teams of undergraduates working on year-round research projects mentored by one of eight participating faculty. These projects are directly tied to the mentor's primary interests, which range from invertebrate development and animal behavior to ecology and plant genomics. Participants will also follow individualized curricula designed to foster success in graduate school, including courses emphasizing oral and written communication skills, interpretation and analysis of the primary literature, experimental design and data analyses, and preparation for graduate record exam (GRE). In addition, the Department of Biology will collaborate with the university's Center for Global Education and Diversity to provide academic and co-curricular mentoring specifically tailored to help under-represented groups successfully enter graduate research programs. This will include visits from minority scientists, visits to research institutions, social functions and other activities related to enhancing students' acceptance into a field with few role models. Participants will be selected out of a pool of minority students recruited from Wilkes and nearby community colleges, based on academic performance, interviews, recommendations and interest in graduate research. More information is available by contacting the Program Director, Dr. William Terzaghi, at [e-mail], or by visiting the program website at http://wilkes.edu/urm.

威尔克斯大学的这一奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。威尔克斯大学将建立一个本科研究和指导（URM）计划，以增加在生物科学领域攻读研究生课程的少数民族学生的人数。在赠款的前四年，每年将招募一个由四名学生组成的队列，NSF的资金将用于支持每个本科生参与者，共两个日历年。在5年的资助期内，共有16名学生将参加该计划。参与者将在大二之后的夏天进入该计划，届时他们将加入由八名参与教师之一指导的全年研究项目的本科生团队。这些项目与导师的主要兴趣直接相关，从无脊椎动物发育和动物行为到生态学和植物基因组学。参与者还将遵循旨在促进研究生院成功的个性化课程，包括强调口头和书面沟通技巧，主要文献的解释和分析，实验设计和数据分析，以及研究生成绩考试（GRE）的准备。此外，生物系将与大学的全球教育和多样性中心合作，提供专门为帮助代表性不足的群体成功进入研究生研究项目而量身定制的学术和课外辅导。这将包括少数群体科学家的访问、对研究机构的访问、社会活动和其他与提高学生对一个榜样很少的领域的接受程度有关的活动。参与者将从威尔克斯和附近社区学院招募的少数民族学生中选出，根据学习成绩，面试，推荐和对研究生研究的兴趣。欲了解更多信息，请联系项目总监William Terzaghi博士，电子邮件：william. wilkes.edu，或访问项目网站http://wilkes.edu/urm。