The Indiana University School of Medicine has won a $1.25 million grant for increasing graduate school diversity.
The Indianapolis-based medical school said Monday the grant is from the National Institutes of Health and is part of its Initiative for Maximizing Student Development Program.
The money will be used to provide new opportunities for graduate students typically underrepresented in biomedical science, officials said.
“The goal of this program is to develop a more diverse group of scientists earning PhDs and create more inclusive training pathways and programs for students who are traditionally underrepresented in biomedical science programs,” said Tom Hurley, associate dean for graduate education and one of the principal investigators for this training grant.
He said the award is the culmination of a six-year effort to increase graduate student diversity and provide new mentored training opportunities.
The grant will provide funding for three new students per year who will each have 2-year-long appointments, with 15 total students funded through the program.
The students can be in any of 10 different doctoral training programs offered at IU School of Medicine. A committee will be established to select students for the student development program.
“Students will experience a training program that will include scientific writing and a robust mentoring program,” said Dr. Gustavo Arrizabalaga, assistant dean for faculty affairs, professional development and diversity, and the co-principal investigator. “They will still complete their core coursework in their chosen PhD program but be able to participate in additional training focused on writing, mentoring and data sciences thanks to this grant.”
Students will work in a faculty lab and receive mentoring from faculty who will complete specific training and workshops on how to best mentor the students.
“This is really about creating and maintaining supportive environments for the students to enter the biomedical science field and then be retained through graduation,” Arrizabalaga said. “We’re creating a pathway for future faculty hires and future industry experts to increase diversity both at IU School of Medicine and in the biomedical sciences field as a whole.”
The grant is for five years and can be renewed for another five years, but the mentoring program and training components established by the grant will remain at the school and have a long-lasting impact on the diversity and inclusivity of the graduate programs, the school said.
The IU School of Medicine is the largest medical school in the U.S., with about 1,400 students.
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Wasted money as usual by the leftwingers and the federal government.
Highly qualified minorities in the STEMs are already highly sought after
by universities, hospitals, pharmaceuticals, med schools, and any in
organizations tech field.
The only discrimination going on in the STEMs is against high achieving Asians.