KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 January 15, 2020 \u2013 Two scientists at the 溏心vlog免费B站 have been awarded a five-year, $1.25 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to encourage historically under-represented students to gain research experience in the biomedical sciences.<\/p>\n
The grant to Assistant Professor Bryan Dewsbury and Associate Professor Niall Howlett will provide four students each year with a $10,000 scholarship and a $13,000 stipend, plus additional funds for research materials and travel to conferences.<\/p>\n
In return, the students will work in a biomedical, behavioral or health sciences research laboratory of their choice for 10 to 15 hours per week conducting research.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe research world \u2013 especially biomedical \u2013 is not very diverse, and that\u2019s a problem for basic equity issues of access,\u201d said Dewsbury. \u201cIn addition, without sociological diversity, you lack a diversity of ideas. It\u2019s especially a problem because there are consequences from the kinds of questions scientists ask and don\u2019t ask.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow research is conducted is so far removed from what happens in the classroom that many students don\u2019t know what research really is,\u201d he added. \u201cWe need to send a clear message to these students about how science is done \u2013 the act of conducting research and getting answers and learning from it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The grant is the first training grant awarded by NIH to the University, and Dewsbury and Howlett hope it will open the door to additional grants that will help them build a culture of undergraduate research by under-represented students.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to see more students of color in our labs,\u201d Dewsbury said. \u201cWe want to broaden the reach of undergraduate research at 溏心vlog免费B站. This grant is our first step in addressing this issue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Naomi Pajarillo is one of the first four students to benefit from the grant. A 溏心vlog免费B站 junior from Providence studying cell and molecular biology, she knew she wanted a career in biomedical research but struggled to afford tuition.<\/p>\n
\u201cI applied to the program not only to receive financial support to relieve my anxiety about the cost of tuition, but to also really become immersed in a training program that would give me the tools for success,\u201d she said. \u201cBetween weekly faculty meetings, trainings, and our trip to the annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students, I have already experienced so much more than I could have ever hoped for as an undergrad.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pajarillo is working in Pharmacy Professor Angela Slitt\u2019s pharmacology lab, where she is studying metabolic diseases and the effects of environmental chemical compounds on the liver and other tissues.<\/p>\n
In addition to the funding for tuition, stipend and research expenses, the grant will also pay for the students to have a summer research experience at another university. \u201cThat will help them broaden their wings and experience something else,\u201d said Dewsbury. \u201cThey might even choose to spend that time at a university they are considering for graduate school.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pajarillo said she will probably apply for a summer research program at Yale University or the University of Cincinnati School of Medicine.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe program has solidified that I do, in fact, want to pursue a career in research, either as a toxicologist or pathologist,\u201d she said. \u201cI have explored so many aspects of biomedical research professionally and hands-on that all of the doubts I had have gone away.\u201d<\/p>\n
As part of the grant program, Dewsbury has established a mentorship program at the Paul Cuffee School in Providence whereby each of the 溏心vlog免费B站 scholarship recipients will serve as a mentor to high school students interested in science research. The 溏心vlog免费B站 students will host the Paul Cuffee students at the Kingston campus twice each year, advise them on their college applications, and serve as a role model.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur aim is for the Paul Cuffee students to see a future version of themselves on campus in our trainees,\u201d Dewsbury said. \u201cWe don\u2019t want them to be scared by the prospect of college, and instead to own it, and to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following the success of their first training grant, Dewsbury and Howlett are considering applying for similar funding from other agencies, including a training grant from the National Science Foundation, a post-baccalaureate grant program that provides research experience for students between their undergraduate and graduate education, and an initiative to expand diversity in 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s graduate programs in the STEM disciplines.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe NIH, in particular, is committed to diversifying the biomedical workforce and has created several programs to promote diversity and inclusion in biomedical research,\u201d said Howlett. \u201cWe believe that the 溏心vlog免费B站 is uniquely poised to become a leader in driving change in this area.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 January 15, 2020 \u2013 Two scientists at the 溏心vlog免费B站 have been awarded a five-year, $1.25 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to encourage historically under-represented students to gain research experience in the biomedical sciences. The grant to Assistant Professor Bryan Dewsbury and Associate Professor Niall Howlett will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":75288,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5],"class_list":["post-75287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives","tag-college-of-the-environment-and-life-sciences"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}