Lincoln, a historically Black university in Pennsylvania, has been awarded a five-year grant from the National Science Foundation to design a mentorship program in scientific research as part of a national effort to expand research opportunities for minority students. Officials hope the program will encourage more undergraduate students to pursue graduate studies in biology, ecology and other science disciplines.

“This really is the age of biology and there are a lot of opportunities to do research and we need a lot of bright people to deal with environmental and health issues,” says Dr. David Royer, the grant’s principal investigator and chair of Lincoln’s biology department. “I don’t think students are aware of the opportunities that are available (and) the purpose of the undergraduate research and mentoring in biology program is to get more undergraduates, in particular minorities, involved in research.”

Royer adds that Lincoln faculty members will mentor students and develop one-on-one research projects over the course of the program. Lincoln officials will finalize their selection process by the end of this year and choose sophomore students from environmental science, biology and chemistry majors to participate in the mentorship experience, Royer says. The $209,000 grant will fund research opportunities for three students during the program’s first year and four students for each remaining year.

Govind C. Sharma, a program director in the division of biological infrastructure at the National Science Foundation, says Lincoln’s grant is part of a national push to expand research opportunities for minority students.

“This fund supports one year or longer research experiences while students are undergraduates in an effort to increase the number of underrepresented minorities going to graduate school in biological sciences,” says Sharma, adding that 10 other schools including the University of Wisconsin and the University of New Mexico have adopted similar mentorship programs that are NSF funded.