MU and Division of Biological Sciences Programs Serving Students from Underserved and from Underrepresented Minority Backgrounds
NSF/Biological Sciences Scholars
These scholarships enhance the recruitment and retention of underserved and underrepresented students in biology. The project involves a partnership with select inner-city high schools in St. Louis to provide scholarships to enable their academically talented, financially needy students to enroll in and complete a BA or BS in Biological Sciences at MU. Underserved (economically disadvantaged) and underrepresented (minority) students are identified in their junior year in high school and provided academic and advising support to prepare them to enroll in Biological Sciences at MU at the completion of their senior year. Once at MU the Scholars are provided scholarship support to meet their full financial need, academically challenging coursework, personal interactions with faculty, special mentoring, and undergraduate research opportunities early in their career. We provide special career discovery activities with the goal to prepare the Scholars to successfully pursue advanced study leading to careers and leadership positions in creative research in the integrated life sciences.
 The EXPRESS Program
With support from the NIH, NSF and Howard Hughes Medical Institute we developed a novel program, Exposure to Research for Science Students (EXPRESS), to encourage underrepresented minority scholars to major in the sciences at MU, and then to nurture and develop their talents through special mentoring programs throughout their undergraduate career. Of the more than 150 underrepresented minority undergraduates that have participated in the EXPRESS Program as freshmen and sophomores, more than 83% have graduated or are on-track to graduate and remain in a science or science-related field. The EXPRESS freshman to sophomore retention rate of 90% is greater than that for all students at MU.
The MU McNair Scholars Program
The Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program at MU has been continuously funded by the U.S. Department of Education since 1989. Designed to identify and prepare minority and first-generation/low income students to enter PhD programs in a wide variety of fields, the MU program has repeatedly been among the highest funded and most successful programs in the country. The program provides 18 new students annually a modest stipend, access to special graduate study readiness workshops, and a 275-hour research internship experience with a faculty mentor that prepares them for graduate study. Over 70% of the MU McNair Scholars who have completed undergraduate work have enrolled in graduate programs.
NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (NSF-REU) Site
 We have been engaged in outreach to underrepresented minority undergraduates through our NSF REU Site Program in Biology/Biochemistry since 1991. This program supports college juniors as they participate in a summer research internship with Biological Sciences and Biochemistry faculty at MU. We have developed cooperative agreements with four HBCUs: Florida A&M University, Prairie View A&M University (TX), University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff, and Xavier University (LA), and three MSIs: Barry University, Long Island University-Brooklyn and Medgar Evers College (NY). Of our more than 160 NSF-REU interns, more than 54% were underrepresented minorities and more than 41% later entered PhD programs at major research universities.
The MU Undergraduate Mentoring in Environmental Biology (UMEB) Program
 The MU Undergraduate Mentoring in Environmental Biology (UMEB) program, "Training Ecologist Doctors for the 21st Century", is especially committed to engaging students of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds in undergraduate research. The goal of the UMEB program is to increase the diversity of environmental biologists by offering research-based training opportunities to students from under-represented groups. Students in the UMEB program receive stipends to conduct faculty mentored research in environmental biology, take training courses in environmental outreach and career development, and work with agency and corporate partners as interns applying biological research to real world problems. Graduate students in Biological Sciences mentor UMEB scholars.
The MU NIH Postbaccalaureate Research Education Program (PREP) Scholars
"This program was a great learning experience,
and it helped me to decide that I wanted to attend
graduate school."
Willie Agee
BS, Savannah State University
MU PREP Scholar 2003-04
current PhD candidate in Biomedical Sciences
at the Medical College of Georgia
The MU PREP Scholars Program is supported by the National Institutes of Health and is designed to serve underrepresented minority and other disadvantaged students who have a passion for science, the enthusiasm for hard work in an exciting and supportive environment, and a record of achievement at the undergraduate level. MU PREP Scholars conduct a full time research project as part of a research team, guided by a faculty mentor. They receive advice and support from faculty mentors and a network of successful graduate students and other MU PREP Scholars as they prepare for independent research careers in the biomedical sciences. Eight PREP Scholars have already "graduated" and are now enrolled in PhD programs at the Medical College of Georgia, Wayne State University, University of California-Riverside, and MU.
Graduate Programs
A number of other campus initiatives are focused on increasing the number of minority students who obtain graduate degrees in the sciences, including the Emerge Summer Research Internship program.
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