This grant supports a budding partnership between Trinity Washington University, one of a handful of institutions in the country to be classified as both a Predominantly Black Institution (PBI) and a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI), and Johns Hopkins University (JHU), which seeks to provide research experiences spanning one academic year and one summer. Specifically, grant funds will be used to establish a learning community for both Trinity and Hopkins faculty and trainees focused on inclusive teaching and mentoring practices; establish a course-based undergraduate research experience for 10 Trinity “SURE Scholars,” including a curricular component to introduce students to research, a credit-bearing course on research excellence, and a 10-week summer research experience at JHU; and establish a layered mentoring structure, including faculty from both institutions and graduate students from JHU.

This grant supports a budding partnership between two institutions in New York, Lehman College (a Hispanic Serving Institution) and Stony Brook University (a predominantly white institution), which seeks to address issues of representation in the Geosciences—one of the least diverse STEM fields in terms of gender, race, and disability. Grant funds will facilitate a pathway for Lehman undergraduates to Stony Brook’s graduate programs and catalyze a discussion about systemic change. Specifically, the project team will visit Lehman College to discuss research opportunities available at Stony Brook and begin recruiting for Summer research placements; host Lehman faculty and students at Stony Brook for lab demonstrations, with an emphasis on showcasing possible summer research opportunities; host Lehman students for 8 weeks and Lehman faculty for 1-2 weeks at a time over the summer of 2022; and undertake an extensive evaluation of the Summer pilot program, concluding with a detailed report on takeaways and plans for future funding.