MERCED - The U.S. Department of Education has awarded University of California, Merced, with a Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program grant, which should give the university at least $220,000 each year for the next five years.
The grant will allow 25 students, generally low-income or first-generation college students, to participate as McNair Scholars conducting research with UC Merced faculty during their junior and senior years. McNair Scholars receive up to $2,800 in the summer to support research-related expenses, such as travel or lodging. They also receive funding to attend national and international conferences with their professors, and to join professional organizations. The participants enjoy structured mentoring from graduate students and faculty, and they have access to a variety of special activities that help orient them to a scholarly career.
The goal of the McNair program, named for the African-American astronaut who died in the space shuttle Challenger explosion, is to increase the number of Ph.D. degrees earned by students from underrepresented groups.
“Research is an integral component of education in the University of California,” said Sam Traina, acting vice chancellor for research and dean of the Graduate Division at UC Merced. “The McNair program will increase our ability to develop UC research experiences for undergraduates in the San Joaquin Valley. Working as integral members of the research teams of UC faculty will open additional doors for these students.”
According to Elizabeth Boretz, director of UC Merced’s Student Advising and Learning Centerand the grant’s author, the grant will enable the university to support at least 50 McNair Scholars during its funding cycle.
Though the McNair program will be housed at UC Merced, it will not be limited to UC students. About half of the available seats in the program will be set aside for students at California State University, Stanislaus.
“We are making room for CSUS students to ensure the research university experience is available to the broadest array of students,” Boretz said, “because we want to see more Central Valley students pursue graduate studies and then give back to the area as scholars and mentors for the next generation.”
“Opening up a pipeline to the highest level of professional research early in their undergraduate careers will help our McNair Scholars see the magnitude of the contributions they can make to the world,” she added.
