The URM proposal entitled Enhancing Diversity in Environmental Biology (EDEB) is a university partnership to recruit and mentor underrepresented undergraduate students from Xavier and Tulane Universities and prepares them for admission and completion of environmental biology graduate programs. A structured and collaborative program, EDEB will be administered through the Tulane/Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research (CBR). The CBR represents a nineteen-year university partnership in bioenvironmental research; increasing diversity in this field is a core concept in its mission. Nationally only 3.4% of the doctoral degrees in biology are awarded to African Americans (NSF Science and Engineering Doctorate Awards: 2005), and only a small fraction of these become environmental biologists. An important method to increase interest in environmental biology is to combine undergraduate lectures with student research in close collaboration with faculty mentors. Recent studies focusing on undergraduate students in research programs support this approach, particularly for first generation college and/or minority students. EDEB will implement a training program in environmental biology that includes research tools and techniques; mentored laboratory and field experiences; and critical thinking and career exploration activities. Students will receive a unique, collaborative mentoring experience utilizing a ?mentoring triad? concept in which they will be jointly mentored by a Tulane University faculty member and a Xavier University faculty member. This project will fortify the successful majority-minority institutional alliance between Tulane and Xavier Universities by building on the strengths of the CBR. For additional information, contact PIs: Dr. John McLachlan jmclach@tulane.edu or Dr. Syed Muniruzzaman smuniruz@xula.edu . For additional information, visit www.cbr.tulane.edu/ .
