Nine faculty projects aimed at recruiting and retaining underrepresented minority students will be funded through Purdue’s $1 million Diversity Transformation Award program.
At least two of the initiatives are focused on attracting students from underrepresented groups to enroll in graduate studies.
Assistant Dean for Agricultural Research and Graduate Education Shawn Donkin is spearheading a plan to build relationships between Purdue and four historically black colleges and universities.
He says Purdue will host faculty from the partner universities, and Purdue professors will visit the other campuses.
"Our belief is that the people-to-people connections will then develop into deeper institutional connections, connections that will enable research projects, exchanges of graduate students in both directions," Donkin says.
He says the initiative will expand existing ties Purdue already has established with North Carolina A&T State University, Florida A&M University, Tuskegee University and Alcorn State University.
Medical sciences professor Susan Mendrysa is leading an initiative targeted at preparing recent college graduates from groups underrepresented in biomedical sciences.
She says students need experience in laboratory research and upper level courses to qualify for graduate school.
"They may be currently at very small institutions that don't have a lot of research opportunities, and so they may not have mentors that have had as much experience with what's involved in going to graduate research programs," she says.
Mendrysa and Donkin say their team members are excited to turn their concepts into actual programs.
Both say their initiatives are rooted in Purdue’s summer research opportunity program which prepares undergraduate students from underrepresented social and economic backgrounds to pursue graduate degrees required for a career in research.
The nine winning projectswere selected from 66 faculty submissions.