PROVIDENCE – In the devastating wake of Hurricane Maria, Brown University is accepting applications from “up to 50” University of Puerto Rico students to enroll on the Providence campus and continue their studies, the university announced Sunday.
“Partnering with the University of Puerto Rico offers the opportunity for us to welcome exceptional students and scholars to College Hill to continue their research and education while their campuses work to reopen,” said Brown provost Richard Locke in a statement.
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UPR will recommend students to apply to Brown for relocation, which reports having received 60 applications, to-date, to study at the Ivy League school. Those who are accepted to study at Brown will enroll in credit-bearing courses free of charge. Brown will also assist in eligible students’ relocation costs and provide housing.
Those eligible for the relocation include undergraduates, graduate and medical school students. Successful graduate-level students may also be nominated by a Brown faculty member whereas Brown’s Warren Alpert Medical School is offering the placements through a partnership with the Association of American Medical Colleges.
A Brown spokeswoman said there are currently three UPR students on campus as of Monday afternoon with 13 additional students arriving by the end of the day. She added: “more are arriving everyday.”
One such student is Andrés Martínez-Muñiz, a UPR undergraduate chemistry major who previously served as a summer researcher in Dr. Jonathan Kurtis’s laboratory. Kurtis, a Brown professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the Warren Alpert Medical School, invited Martínez-Muñiz to return to Brown.
Martínez-Muñiz flew to Rhode Island last week, according to the statement, and will continue his studies through the end of the academic year, “if necessary.”
During the past week on campus, he said in a statement: “Brown is working to minimize [the impact of the hurricane] and to offer opportunities to students affected by this natural disaster… This is what universities should do — open their doors and help.”
Some members of the UPR faculty are also eligible for relocation, but such a move is dependent on UPR approval and a similarity to existing research at Brown.
In addition, since the Category 4 storm hit the island on Sept. 20, campus groups have hosted events to raise money for the residents of Puerto Rico and Brown medical school doctors have donated goods to those in need.
The urge to help other schools in need is backed up by Brown’s decision to host displaced students post-Hurricane Katrina as well as following the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.
Emily Gowdey-Backus is a staff writer for PBN. You can follow her on Twitter @FlashGowdey or contact her via email, gowdey-backus@pbn.com.
