Research and Funding Opportunities

The Meyerhoff Scholarship Program encourages students to conduct research early on in order to gain hands-on experience and to develop a clearer understanding of what studying in the sciences entails. Scholars perform research at top research institutions in the United States and abroad. The following are some of the research programs available to Meyerhoff Scholars. Contact the Meyerhoff staff for more information about these and other research opportunities.

Howard Hughes Medical Institute Scholars Program
www.hhmi.umbc.edu/hhmischolars
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute for the Undergraduate Biological Sciences Scholars Program’s primary goal is to increase the number of minority students that matriculate to Ph.D. or M.D./Ph.D. programs in the biomedical field. HHMI Scholars at UMBC are chosen through a rigorous application and interview process, which includes the program director and department chairs. Only those students majoring in a biomedical field with a GPA above 3.2 and a strong interest in pursuing research as a career are chosen for the program. As a key component of the program students participate in research experiences beginning with their freshman year. While completing a research project during their sophomore year at UMBC, scholars select highly productive off-campus scientists, particularly HHMI investigators, with whom they work during the summer. Providing students various research experiences will prepare them for the rigors of scientific research as a career. Student support is provided by the HHMI Scholars program, including travel, housing and a salary for working in the laboratories during their tenure as an undergraduate.

Leadership Alliance
www.theleadershipalliance.org
The Leadership Alliance is a consortium of 29 of the country's leading research and teaching academic institutions, dedicated to improving the participation of underserved and underrepresented students in graduate studies and Ph.D. programs and, ultimately, research professions in the academic, public and private sectors.

Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Program
The Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program is one of a sequence of four NSF programs which seek to build productive capacity and output within institutions with significant enrollments of minority populations underrepresented within science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) professionals.  

MARC U* Star
www.umbc.edu/MARC
The MARC U*STAR Program aims to increase the number of persons from underrepresented groups who pursue Ph.D. degrees and careers in biomedical research or mathematics. The MARC at UMBC is based on a three-tier foundation for student success based on outstanding student talent, research mentor excellence and comprehensive administrative staff support. The MARC Program is effective in helping its participants maintain high, above-average grade point averages while taking increasingly difficult courses in the biomedical sciences and conducting extended individual research projects under the supervision of their MARC research mentors.

Summer Biomedical Training Program
www.umbc.edu/Programs/Meyerhoff/Undergrad/summer
The Summer Biomedical Training Program, which is funded by an National Institute of General Medical Science, Initiative for Minority Student Development (IMSD) grant, provides biomedical research experiences for undergraduates, particularly those underrepresented in the field, who are interested in receiving their Ph.D. or M.D./Ph.D. in biomedicine. Students from across the country complete a ten-week research experience with energetic faculty in state-of-the-art facilities at UMBC while living on campus.