The
Minority Biomedical Research Support (MBRS) program provides a salary
and a mentored laboratory research experience for minority students in
the biomedical sciences at Rutgers–Newark. Graduate students in the
program also receive full tuition remission. Funded by grants from the
National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National
Institutes of Health, the program supports graduate and undergraduate
students supervised by faculty from the departments of biology,
chemistry, and psychology; the Center for Molecular and Behavioral
Neuroscience; and the College of Nursing. The MBRS program, in its 25th year of continuous funding,
addresses the underrepresentation of minority men and women in the
United States in biomedical careers. It provides student participants
with an intensive laboratory experience that includes mentoring to
design and carry out their research project, present their findings at
weekly MBRS seminars and at professional scientific conferences,
and ultimately publish their research as coauthors in professional
scientific journals.
MBRS students are expected to work a minimum of 15 hours a
week supervised by a faculty mentor and interact in research seminars
presented by visiting national and international minority scientists.
They receive annual financial support for their research, which
includes supplies for their laboratory, in addition to expenses for
travel to participate in scientific conferences.
More than 130 students have graduated from the MBRS program--19 Ph.D.'s, 25 masters, and 86 baccalaureates. They have then
continued their career development at leading universities, e.g.,
through funded postdoctoral positions at Harvard, Yale, and Rockefeller
universities and the Mayo Clinic. Others among our MBRS graduates have
proceeded to graduate or medical schools, including Boston University,
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine,
and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Three MBRS
alumni now hold tenured faculty positions at the University of Puerto
Rico.
Application to the MBRS Program can be downloaded from the website: http://mbrs.newark.rutgers.edu and mailed or delivered in person at the office on the Newark Campus in Smith Hall, Room 301.
