The UMass CBI community prides itself on being a highly interactive and inclusive group that fosters excellent CBI training and research.
- The benefits of CBI training are available to all UMass graduate students who choose to pursue the CBI curriculum.
- Through a combination of NIH funding and matching funds provided by UMass, CBI Traineeships are available to both US and international students, on a competitive basis.
- Nearly all of CBI labs are involved in training undergraduate and/or graduate students from under-represented groups, and many CBI program members and alumni are from traditionally underrepresented groups on the basis of ethnicity, disability and/or economic disadvantage. This commitment to training individuals from underrepresented groups promotes diversity in the workforce and encourages an inclusive environment that is comfortable and conducive for the training experience.
- The CBI Program has historically demonstrated a strong commitment to support students from groups underrepresented in the STEM fields. In fact, about 75% of the underrepresented students affiliated with the CBI Program in the past five years have been awarded CBI funding.
- The diverse CBI faculty appreciate the challenges of being under-represented in STEM disciplines: 45% are women, and 39% are members of other groups under-represented in STEM, including first-generation college graduates, under-represented minorities, faculty from disadvantaged backgrounds, and faculty who identify as LGBTQ+. Thus the faculty are well-positioned to thoughtfully mentor students from a range of backgrounds.
- UMass has a longstanding commitment to graduate education of students under-represented in STEM disciplines. For over 15 years beginning in 1999, UMass served as the lead institution of the Northeast Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (NEAGEP), a consortium of 15 universities and colleges (including five minority-serving institutions), whose goal is to increase the recruitment and retention of underrepresented graduate students to STEM disciplines. NEAGEP was funded by NSF until 2014; since then UMass has worked to sustain and expand the best practices initiated by the NEAGEP, most recently with the creation of the Graduate School’s Office of Inclusion and Engagement (OIE).
- Diversity efforts of programs participating in CBI:
- With a number of programs designed to foster success, UMass is a destination of choice for students from under-represented groups to pursue graduate education in STEM disciplines:
- Disability Services is committed to full access for all persons at UMass Amherst, and promotes the empowerment of people with disabilities and their full integration into campus life and the community.
- PREP is an NIH-funded program that awards one-year post-baccalaureate internships that aim to inspire and prepare students to pursue doctorates in biomedical sciences. PREP is co-directed by three faculty, including CBI Director Thompson and CBI Faculty Peyton.
- Spaulding-Smith Fellowships provide funding for the first and final years of graduate study for many of our excellent under-represented students in STEM.
- The Office of Inclusion and Equity (OIE) oversees these and other programs promoting success for a variety of under-represented groups at all levels, undergraduate through faculty.