9553311 Frierson The goal of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC- CH) RCMS project will be the motivated, excite, and encourage minority students to pursue graduate studies and research careers in science. The project has two components. The first component will focus on providing in-depth research experiences for the students, starting the summer after their sophomore year. This component will be termed UNC-RCMS. The second component calls for special participation of NSF affiliated Alliance for Minority Participation (AMP) students in the UNC-CH Summer Pre-Graduate Research Experience (SPGRE) Program and will be termed the SPGRE- AMP Connection. At steady state, a total of at least 32 students will participate each year. Annually, at least 16 students (eight juniors and eight seniors) will participate in the UNC-RCMS components throughout the year and 16 students will participate in the SPGRE-AMP Connection during the summer. A major aspect of the project is to provide the projects throughout their junior and senior years with the goal tat they matriculate in graduate science programs after graduating. Another feature is for the students to spend the summer after their sophomore year at a corporate laboratory in Research Triangle Park. In the subsequent summer, the desire is for the students to spend the summer at another major research university. An expected outcome is for a number of SPGRE-AMP students to enroll in UNC-CH graduate programs and for UNC-RCMS to students to enter science and math Ph.D. programs at other major research universities.
