AGEP has awarded funds for two Spring 2009 “Breaking Grounds Initiatives” - faculty-initiated projects aiming to recruit or retain underrepresented minority graduate students in the STEM disciplines.
"Attracting More Diverse Students to Research in Psychology, Cognitive Science and Neuroscience through a Partnership with IU Northwest" is a project of the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences. The project’s goal is to build a strong connection between its doctoral programs and undergraduate students at IU’s Northwest campus in Gary, Indiana, where the 80% of the students are from minorities underrepresented in the STEM disciplines. The project leaders wish to accomplish three goals: 1. Increase the number of underrepresented minority undergraduates who want to do research; 2. Increase their skills and connection to research; and, 3. Increase their familiarity with IU Bloomington’s graduate programs, faculty and broader community. In order to make these three things happen with IU Northwest undergraduates, the awarded funds will support the following activities:
• IUB faculty visits to IU Northwest for research seminars and interaction with students
• IU Northwest faculty visits to Bloomington for research meetings, seminars and potential laboratory collaborations to strengthen the connection between the two campuses
• IU Northwest student visits to the IUB campus so they can be introduced to the doctoral programs in Cognitive Science and Neuroscience and the Department Psychological and Brain Sciences
• Paid summer research internships at IUB for highly promising IU Northwest underrepresented minority students
The Center for the Integrative Study of Animal Behavior (CISAB) proposed "Increasing Student Diversity in Animal Behavior at IU" in order to increase diversity in their graduate program at IUB. They will achieve this in two ways: first, by sponsoring the attendance of promising underrepresented minority students at their annual conference in Bloomington, where the students will be exposed to CISAB’s research. There, students will have the opportunity to experience one-on-one interactions with researchers who are among the world’s leaders in their respective fields. Secondly, CISAB will send their highly successful graduate students to other institutions to serve as ambassadors for the academic program. The goal of the ambassador visits will be to recruit new doctoral students and summer research program participants from underrepresented minority groups.
