by Atiya Jordan

May 4, 2022

Fayetteville State University Awarded $2.6M Grant to Support Undergraduate STEM Scholars

HBCU Fayetteville State University has been awarded a multimillion grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to advance its support and assistance of undergraduate students majoring in STEM.

According to a press release statement, a $2.3 million grant was bestowed to professor James E. Raynor Jr., Ph.D., to establish the Undergraduate Research Training Initiative for Student Enhancement (U-RISE) program. This program was launched to provide scholars from historically marginalized communities with resources needed to smoothly transition into biomedical research-based Ph.D. programs.

Professor Raynor served as the program director of the former FSU-RISE program for 14 years. Under his leadership, Raynor served over 300 underprivileged students, resulting in high graduation rates. Many students transitioned into advanced medical degree programs at schools such as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, Cornell University, and more.

A quarter of Black graduates with STEM degrees come from HBCUs. Between 1995 and 2004, HBCUs graduated 46% of Black women who earned degrees in STEM disciplines, the United Negro College Fund reported.

Over the years, HBCUs have launched initiatives and invested more resources into providing the guidance that Black STEM students often lack long before entering college.

“FSU has been hard at work ensuring that students have access to everything they need to be successful,” said Dr. Monica Leach, provost and senior vice chancellor for the Academic Affairs Division of Academic Affairs. “From reducing tuition to rethinking our organizational structure to better serve students, we believe in keeping our students’ best interest at the heart of what we do. This grant helps us take another step in the direction of providing unfettered access to fields of study that, historically, have been inaccessible to students from underrepresented communities. We are excited about the promise U-RISE holds for FSU’s students.”

The U-RISE program, operated through the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, will also provide mentoring, research training, and professional development activities for students beginning their sophomore year of college through their senior year. In addition, trainees will receive a monthly stipend, tuition, health insurance, and support for travel to scientific conferences.

For the upcoming fall, applications are now available for the U-RISE program.

 


×