Program Overview
The University of Missouri-Columbia (MU) PREP Scholars Program is seeking under-represented minority students with a passion for science, the enthusiasm for hard work in an exciting and supportive environment, and a record of achievement at the undergraduate level. This post-baccalaureate training program is designed to prepare them for later PhD study leading to research careers in the biomedical sciences, especially in areas that address health disparities in minority populations. To promote a successful transition from a baccalaureate program in the sciences into a PhD program, and to foster successful completion of that PhD program our MU PREP Scholars Program provides:
- An individually designed,
faculty mentored research experience leading to publication of research
results in the scientific literature and presentation at national conferences
- Research-related academic
preparation, including graduate courses and research seminars
- Personal development, including
enhanced oral and written communication and networking skills
- Planning for graduate school,
including assistance with the graduate application process and GRE preparation
workshops
- Up to two years of salary at $21,000/year, all educational fees paid, and support to attend scientific meetings.
This program is supported by the National Institutes of Health and is designed specifically for students who are not yet sure that they want to pursue a research career, or who feel that they are not quite ready to enter a challenging PhD program at a top research institution. MU PREP Scholars will conduct a full time research project as part of a research team, guided by a faculty mentor. They will receive advice and support from faculty mentors, program staff, and a network of successful graduate students, peer mentors, and other MU PREP Scholars as they enhance their background for entry into a highly selective PhD program.
"At Mizzou there are many dedicated research advisers with interesting high quality research opportunities who are more than willing to guide you along the path to becoming an outstanding scientist. I have always felt that the members of the Biochemistry department were there for me when I needed them and their number one goal is to make us better scientists."
Dr. Eric Walters BA, South Carolina State University; PhD in Biological Sciences at MU; currently Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and the Medical Alumni Association Endowed Founder's Chair at Howard University College of Medicine
An MU PREP Scholar applicant must:
- Be a member of a minority
group under-represented in the sciences (African American/Black, Hispanic/Chicano/Latino(a),
Native American/American Indian, Alaskan Native, Mainland Puerto Rican,
or Native Pacific Islander [American Samoa, Guam, Hawaii, Melanesia,
Micronesia, Northern Marianas, Palau, or the Philippines]);
- Be a citizen or a permanent
resident of the United States;
- Have received a baccalaureate
degree in a science major within the past two years, or be on track
to earn a baccalaureate degree in a science major prior to entering
the MU PREP Scholars Program; and
- Intend to apply, within two years of acceptance into the MU PREP Scholars Program, to a graduate program leading to a PhD in a biomedically-related field in preparation for a career in biomedical research.
The MU PREP Scholars Program is not designed for students seeking admission to medical or other health professions programs.
Financial Support
MU PREP Scholars receive up to two years of salary at $21,000/year, with all educational fees paid, and $1,200/year for travel to two scientific conferences/year.
Application Process
Applicants should submit:
- The Application
Form;
- A personal essay that describes:
- your reasons for wanting to participate in the MU PREP Scholars Program;
- your reasons for wanting to pursue a PhD degree in a biomedically related field after completion of the MU PREP Scholars Program;
- your reasons for not applying directly to an MA or PhD program;
- any previous research experience that you have had; and
- your future educational
and career goals after you complete the MU PREP Scholars Program;
- Official transcript(s) of
all your undergraduate work;
- A current resume; and
- Letters of recommendation from three college science teachers and/or research mentors. If you have participated in laboratory research, one of the letters should be from your research mentor. (The letters should be mailed directly to the MU PREP Scholars Program office by the teacher/mentor.)
Applications are processed continuously. The number of MU PREP Scholar positions is limited, so early application is encouraged. This Program is sponsored through the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIH Grant #1 R25 GM64120-01A1).
Submit all application materials, or address questions to:
MU PREP Scholars Program
c/o Dr. John David, Program Director
105 Tucker Hall
University of Missouri-Columbia
Columbia, Missouri 65211-7400
Fax: 573-882-0123
E-mail: DavidJ@missouri.edu
"MU's commitment to scientific research and teaching makes it a first-rate institution that contains a hub of researchers and training programs that are nationally and internationally acclaimed. The doctoral training I received in Biological Sciences was invaluable in preparing me to meet the challenges and obligations of the professoriate. The personal interaction and accessibility of faculty and staff were key factors during my matriculation and development as an independent thinker and researcher. Many of the friendships and professional interactions I enjoy today find their origins at the University of Missouri."
Jermaine Lamont Jenkins BA, Salisbury State University; PhD candidate in Biochemistry at MU
Life Sciences at MU
MU's research strength lies in the life sciences, and the six departments participating in the MU PREP Scholars Program (Biochemistry, Biological Sciences, Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Medical Pharmacology and Physiology, Veterinary Biomedical Sciences and Veterinary Pathobiology) represent the strongest research departments on campus. Interdisciplinary research is fueled by the virtual absence of departmental boundaries and barriers. The School of Medicine and the Colleges of Agriculture, Arts & Science and Veterinary Medicine are all located within a five-minute walk of each other. MU PREP Scholar faculty mentors are involved in collaborative projects with other faculty in departments of Animal Sciences, Anatomical Sciences, Chemistry, Medicine, and Physics. The Molecular Biology Program and interdisciplinary degree programs in Genetics, Neurosciences, Nutritional Sciences, and Physiology provide an ideal supportive environment for research opportunities at the intersections of traditional disciplines. Only five other campuses in the U.S. offer the diversity of life science programs that is found at MU.
Research Resources
In addition to all the equipment and supplies in their mentor's lab, all MU PREP Scholars have access to a wide variety of specialized common-use equipment including: state-of-the-art fluorescence, interference-contrast and confocal fluorescence microscopes equipped for single-cell injection, laser ablation and digital image analysis; microneurosurgery facilities; sound isolation acoustic chambers; x-ray processors; phosphoimagers; and transgenic animal facilities. All of our laboratories are connected to an Ethernet computer network with direct fiber optic mainframe and library file access. MU is connected to Internet 2.
The interdisciplinary Molecular Biology Program operates core facilities for: (1) protein microsequencing and peptide synthesis; (2) DNA sequencing and oligonucleotide synthesis; (3) monoclonal antibody production and cell sorting; (4) immunocytochemistry and confocal laser microscopy; (5) scanning and transmission electron microscopy; (6) transgenic animal production; (7) structural biology; (8) microarrays; and (9) proteomics.
"The University of Missouri-Columbia has tremendous resources as well as the best educators and researchers in the country. Faculty in my former department of Physiology are editors of journals in their respective field, leaders of multi-million dollar NIH funded grant projects and awardees of the highest honors in their area of research. But the nicest thing about being a student in this environment was that I felt the faculty and staff were approachable. They care about training future scientists... or rather their future colleagues. They are very interested in your development into an independent thinker, future leader and a valuable scientific contributor."
Dr. Sonia Houston BS, Spelman College; PhD in Physiology at MU; currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at New York Medical College MU
Graduate Program Quality
Our PhD students take an average of 5.3 years to complete their degree, in comparison to the national average of 7.0 years. Our year-one to year-two retention rate is 94% for all PhD candidates and 100% for minority PhD candidates. Our graduation rate is 92% for all PhD candidates and 90% for minority PhD candidates. On average our PhD graduates publish 4.4 refereed papers and present their research at 4.2 national or international meetings.
Our graduates move rapidly into excellent post-doctoral positions, faculty appointments and research positions in industrial and government labs. Some of our recent graduates had post-doctoral positions at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Duke, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Salk Institute, Sloan-Kettering Cancer Institute, State University of New York-Buffalo, University of California-Berkeley, University of California-Santa Barbara, University of California-San Francisco, Texas and Washington. Recent graduates are now on the faculty at Columbia, Howard, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Texas A&M, Washington University-St. Louis and Wisconsin. Others are staff scientists at BioTechnical Resources, Lexicon Genetics, Nichols Instruments and Diagnostics, Sigma Chemical, and Smith-Kline Beecham.
The MU PREP Scholars Program Faculty
MU PREP Scholars are carefully matched with MU faculty mentors with similar or identical research and career interests. Our faculty mentors in Biochemistry, Biological Sciences, Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Medical Pharmacology and Physiology, Veterinary Biomedical Sciences, and Veterinary Pathobiology have exceptionally productive research programs at the cutting edge of the modern biomedical sciences, excellent records as mentors for both graduate and undergraduate students, and are all well funded. All have doctoral students and 75% are training post-doctoral fellows. Much of the power of their work comes at the interfaces of traditional disciplines and we encourage our students to work at those very same interfaces. A mentor will spend 4-10 hours/week with their Scholar.
A top priority in biomedical research is to unravel the genetic and cellular regulatory mechanisms that control basic developmental processes including cell growth and proliferation, migration, differentiation, and morphogenesis. This knowledge will provide enormous insights into the mechanisms underlying genetic diseases and cancer. Some of our faculty mentors are examining the regulation of neural development, DNA repair mechanisms, maternal-embryo interactions during pregnancy, and hormonal control in development and cancer. They use bioinformatics and computational tools to manage genomic and proteomic information and study the evolution of molecular structures.
Other faculty mentors study the molecular and biophysical aspects of cardiovascular function and adaptation, including complex behaviors and interrelationships of organs as influenced by cellular, subcellular and molecular events. Their research programs focus on understanding cardiovascular function in healthy organisms and how the cardiovascular system adapts to acute and chronic stimuli in disease. They study cardiovascular and skeletal muscle adaptation to exercise training, neurohumeral control of cardiovascular function, cardiovascular dysfunction in diabetes and hyperlipidemia, membrane transport biophysics, the pathophysiology of hypertension and shock, and the dysfunctions in cystic fibrosis.
A third group of faculty mentors share a wide range of interests and specialties in pathology and microbiology and apply advanced biotechnology to solve some of today's most perplexing biomedical questions. They study the pathogenesis, pathophysiology and epidemiology of mammalian disease, host cell-pathogen relationships, oncology, infectious and parasitic diseases, inheritable diseases in animal models, and pathogenic microbiology.
"I am pursuing a PhD in parasitology because of my interest in host-parasite interactions and, more specifically, malaria. I chose the University of Missouri-Columbia because Dr. Brenda Beerntsen, my advisor, is investigating mosquito-malaria interactions and because the university has the courses, facilities, and faculty that are necessary for the successful completion of my doctoral degree. I plan to continue with postdoctoral studies in tropical disease research and hope to spend a portion of my postdoctoral career in a region where tropical diseases are prevalent. Then, I hope to have my own laboratory where I can continue to investigate host-parasite interactions and share my knowledge with other young scientists in the way that so many of my mentors have done for me."
Alexis Epps BA, New Mexico State University; PhD candidate in Veterinary Pathobiology at MU
MU Provides an Extremely Supportive Social Environment
The University of Missouri-Columbia (MU)
Columbia is the flagship campus of the University of Missouri system and is home to more than 1,700 faculty, 5,000 graduate and professional students, and 18,000 undergraduates. Our graduate and professional students come from 50 states and more than 100 countries.
MU offers a diverse and highly supportive environment for students from all social, racial, economic, and educational backgrounds. A wide range of campus support programs sponsor educational, cultural and social events to promote networking and develop a sense of community among all students at MU. The Association of Black Graduate and Professional Students, the Black Culture Center, and the Black Studies Program provide lectures, discussion groups, educational activities, and academic and personal counseling for African American students. From the Four Directions furthers communication between Native Americans and celebrates Native American cultural history. The Hispanic American Leadership Organization fosters social and cultural interactions for students of Hispanic origin and functions as a network and emotional support group for educational achievement and professional development. There are very strong Black and Hispanic communities on campus and in Columbia.
"Coming into the PREP program I was nervous and unsure about graduate school. The PREP program provided the environment and support team that I needed to develop as a scientist. Now going to graduate school is a dream that I can pursue with confidence."
Taryn James BS, Florida A&M University; MU PREP Scholar 2003-04; current PhD candidate in Pharmacology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook
The 1,223 undergraduate majors in the participating departments include 115 African Americans, Hispanic Americans and Native Americans, or 9.4% of our undergraduate student body. Minority students represent 9.3% of our combined doctoral student body. The percentage of African Americans in our PhD programs is more than double the national average.
The Community
Columbia, population ca. 90,000, is a vibrant, inclusive college town of multiple and diverse cultures that is consistently ranked as one of the 20 most livable cities in the United States. An easy two-hour drive from St. Louis and Kansas City, Columbia combines the best of urban and rural life. The environment is warm, and the weather pleasant. Downtown Columbia is immediately adjacent to campus with great coffee shops, bookstores, and fine restaurants. Entertainment options abound, with a great art / eclectic movie theater and a vibrant local music scene with a fabulous jazz series and excellent nightspots.
Featuring an unusual range of tall grass prairies to oak-hickory forests, glaciated plains in the north to the Ozark highlands in the south, Missouri is a haven for outdoor enthusiasts. Water lovers can canoe, fish and daydream on 50,000 miles of Missouri rivers and streams including the Ozark National Scenic Riverways. Bikers love the great crushed-limestone MKT Trail in Columbia and the 225-mile Katy Trail State Park that runs alongside the Missouri River. Limestone caves abound in more than 50 national and state parks. Columbia's Parks & Recreation department has won national awards for its programming including baseball, basketball, football, golf, soccer, softball and tennis.
"This program was a great learning experience, and it helped me to decide that I wanted to attend graduate school."
Willie Agee BS, Savannah State University; MU PREP Scholar 2003-04; current PhD candidate in Biomedical Sciences at the Medical College of Georgia
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