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

惠特利博士和她的同事们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肢体残疾学生和少数民族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，以此为基础建立课程和研究计划。肢体残疾学生是科学界代表性最低的群体，而少数民族学生的代表性也仍然很低。本科生参与者将从莱特州立大学(WSU，残疾服务的领导者)和威尔伯福斯大学(一所历史上的黑人大学)招募，该大学的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引人注目的、由校外资助的环境压力项目，吸引了本科生参与。在适当的基础设施和态度下，威斯康星州立大学的教职员工将通过教学课程和长期的研究经验来指导学生。更多的研究机会将使学生体验到研究的成功，并应增加两个群体在环境生物学中的代表性。来自两个目标群体的申请材料将由一个遴选委员会审查，该委员会将根据证明的生物学能力和对环境研究的兴趣接受10名学生。从生物科学、心理学、药理学和毒理学三个系(生物科学、心理学、药理学和毒理学)中挑选了10名教师导师，这些导师基于对环境压力这一广泛领域的资助研究，这些研究将使学生接触到不同的概念、方法和组织方法。入选的教职员工都证明了对来自代表性不足群体的本科生的有效指导，其中三人是代表性不足群体的成员。他们都自愿担任导师。在学生进入研究实验室之前的夏天，他们将参加一门必修课，这门课将成为科学研究的生存指南。然后他们将进入一个选定的实验室，为期至少一年，在那里他们将在一名教职员工的监督下进行研究。对导师和学生的期望和责任是明确定义和约定的。创建科学同行社区的丰富活动(项目实验室会议、社会活动、年度研讨会、电子出版)，以及在专业发展方面的持续监测和积极咨询，应该有助于留住学生参加该计划。学生将通过口头/海报报告和书面报告/手稿提交来展示他们在研究方面的成功。一个咨询委员会将通过评估工作来监测项目的整体成功。

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.