BWF is committed to funding the next generation of scientists and researchers, thus we have an interest in advancing the careers of underrepresented minority postdoctoral fellows.  The URM Postdoctoral Enrichment Program award provides a total of $50,000 over three years to support the development of a URM postdoctoral fellow in a degree-granting or research institute in the United States or Canada.

The continuing lag in advancement of URM scientists is a significant problem for the scientific community. Despite several decades of federally supported programs, Americans from these minority populations continue to be underrepresented among Ph.D. recipients and in the S&E workforce. Contrary to popular belief, many well prepared underrepresented minority students—including men and women of Latino, Native-American, Pacific Island, and African-American descent—are interested in pursuing scientific or engineering careers. In 2005, the same percentage (44 percent) of African-American and white college-bound high school students indicated their intent to major in S&E fields.

Many students with strong SAT scores, impressive grades, and success in high school honors math and science courses leave the college science pipeline, but the loss is disproportionately among women and minorities. Thus, factors other than school preparation, science aptitude, and interest must be responsible for the low achievement and low persistence of these subgroups of undergraduate and graduate S&E students. Identifying and mitigating these negative factors, then retaining well-educated students with S&E interests would improve the United States’ ability to compete in today’s global scientific community. (SCIENCE, 31 March 2006, Preparing Minority Scientists and Engineers, Michael Summers and Freeman Hrabowski).

The primary goal of the proposed URM Postdoctoral Program is to substantially enhance the postdoctoral training and experience of URM junior scientists. Funds will be provided to support the following enrichment activities:

i) Activities for the postdoctoral fellow to enhance research productivity, e.g. workshops/courses, travel, collaborations, training in new techniques

ii) Activities for the postdoctoral mentor to increase the mentoring of URM fellows in university- based programs:

• Career guidance of the URM postdoctoral fellow
• Research guidance that increases the productivity of the URM postdoctoral fellow

iii) Participation in a peer network system of URM postdoctoral scholars