Recruitment of underrepresented minorities

The Duke CMB Program is strongly committed to improving racial and ethnic diversity in the biological sciences. We actively participate in several programs to attract underrepresented minorities to Duke graduate programs, summarized below. The Duke University Office of Graduate Student Affairs (GSA) coordinates, supplements, and expands the recruiting efforts of all Duke graduate departments and programs. GSA staff, as well as CMB faculty members, visit numerous locations around the country to actively seek out talented minority students. Our active recruiting efforts have led to a rise in the number of applications to the basic biomedical sciences and to the CMB program in particular. We hope that our continued efforts will encourage more minority students to consider becoming the "other kind of doctor."

The Duke Summer Research Opportunity Program (SROP), funded by the Mellon Foundation, provides opportunities for undergraduate students interested in cell and molecular biology to do research on the Duke campus and receive orientation and advice about graduate school.

The Duke Post-Baccalaureate Research Education Program (PREP), funded by the NIH, brings underrepresented minority scholars who have recently completed their bachelors degree to the Duke campus, for one or two years of intensive research and educational development.

The Duke University Graduate School hosts a Pre-Application Graduate Visitation Day, in which underrepresented minority undergraduates from across the country are brought to Duke in the fall for a focused weekend of activities and interviews relating to graduate school.

The Duke University Graduate School awards approximately 35 honorary Duke Endowment Fellowships to the strongest underrepresented minority students in the applicant pool. For students in the CMB program, the fellowships are supplemental in nature, providing an additional $4000 per year in stipend.