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

这项授予威尔克斯大学的奖项是根据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生研究和指导（URM）项目，以增加少数族裔学生攻读生物科学研究生的人数。在资助的头四年，每年将招收四名学生，NSF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，将有16名学生参加该项目。参与者将在二年级之后的夏季进入该项目，届时他们将加入由本科生组成的团队，从事由八名参与教师之一指导的全年研究项目。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。参与者还将学习为在研究生院取得成功而设计的个性化课程，包括强调口头和书面沟通技巧的课程，主要文献的解释和分析，实验设计和数据分析，以及研究生入学考试（GRE）的准备。此外，生物系将与该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指导。这将包括少数民族科学家的访问、对研究机构的访问、社会职能和其他活动，这些活动与提高学生对一个缺乏榜样的领域的接受度有关。参与者将根据学习成绩、面试、推荐和对研究生研究的兴趣，从威尔克斯大学和附近社区大学招募的少数族裔学生中挑选出来。欲了解更多信息，请联系项目主任William Terzaghi博士，邮箱：william.terzaghi@wilkes.edu，或访问项目网站http://wilkes.edu/urm。

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 william.terzaghi@wilkes.edu, or by visiting the program website at http://wilkes.edu/urm.