Individual PAESMEM Award: Nomination of Julio J. Ramirez

胡里奥·J·拉米雷斯博士是行为神经学家。他在克拉克大学获得心理学博士学位，并在麻省理工学院从事神经科学博士后工作。拉米雷斯博士于1986年加入戴维森学院心理学系，并于1998年被任命为第一位R·斯图尔特·迪克森心理学教授，这一荣誉表彰了他对科学和科学教育的承诺。拉米雷斯博士的工作对全国神经科学本科生和神经科学本科生的教职员工都产生了积极的影响。数十名戴维森学院的学生曾与拉米雷斯博士在独立研究项目上合作，并担任实验室助理，他们继续攻读神经科学、心理学或医学方面的研究生学位。事实上，自1981年以来，他已经让100多名本科生参与了他的研究项目。在戴维森的过去22年里，拉米雷斯博士为本科生提供了在他的实验室进行研究的经验，这些本科生大多来自代表性不足的群体。这些研究机会为年轻人带来了重要的体验式学习，不仅是在实验室，而且还通过共同撰写的论文和在国内和国际会议上的演讲。共有45名女性和6名男性来自与他共事的代表性不足的群体，他们目前正在攻读生物医学和健康科学的博士学位，或者已经获得了科学、医学、牙科或兽医的博士学位。拉米雷斯博士的影响范围远远超出了戴维森学院的范围。1991年，他与他人共同创办了全国性组织《本科生神经科学学院》，并于2002年创办了《本科生神经科学教育杂志》。2004年，Ramirez博士创建了一项名为支持导师及其学生(SoMAS)的全国性导师计划，迄今已支持48名教师和他们的学生在各自的机构进行暑期研究。2008年，SoMAS计划更名为“支持来自代表不足的少数群体的导师及其学生”(SoMAS-URM)，并进行了重组，通过创建一个针对他们的需求定制的计划，加强代表不足的个人在神经科学方面的参与。SOMAS-URM计划阐述了最近研究中的两个重要观察结果。该方案为未被充分代表的学生提供了一条研究经验的途径，他们与本国机构的教职员工合作工作，目的是提高他们进入科学职业生涯的竞争力。该计划旨在提高初级教师的指导能力，以加强本科生研究经验的一个关键方面，据报道，这是本科生研究经验中最薄弱的方面。SoMAS-URM方案有可能成为各种暑期本科生研究的典范，密集的一对一指导框架已被证明有助于招募和留住女性和科学界代表性较低的少数群体。

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.