SOUTH KINGSTOWN – The National Institutes of Health awarded two University of Rhode Island scientists a five-year, $1.25 million grant to give minority students the chance to gain research experience in biomedical sciences, the university announced Wednesday.
Assistant Professor Bryan Dewsbury and Associate Professor Niall Howlett, of URI’s College of the Environment and Life Sciences, will give four students an $10,000 scholarship and a $13,000 stipend each year, URI said. The grant will also cover additional costs for research materials and travel expenses to conferences, and pay for students to have a research experience at another university during the summer months.
The students, URI said, will then perform research work for 10 to 15 per week in either a behavioral, biomedical or health sciences lab – whichever they choose.
In a statement Wednesday, Dewsbury said the biomedical research world is “not very diverse,” which is a problem for “basic equity issues of access.”
“In addition, without sociological diversity, you lack a diversity of ideas. It’s especially a problem because there are consequences from the kinds of questions scientists ask and don’t ask,” Dewsbury said. “How research is conducted is so far removed from what happens in the classroom that many students don’t know what research really is. We need to send a clear message to these students about how science is done – the act of conducting research and getting answers and learning from it.”
URI said the grant is the first training that the university received from the National Institutes of Health, and both Dewsbury and Howlett hope this will “open the door” for additional such grants in the future.
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com.
