From programs and research laboratories directed by the speaker over a period of &gt;30 years, in excess of 130 UG students from the University of Texas at El Paso have progressed into Ph.D. programs and earned their degrees. Many of these students now have faculty posts at Universities and Colleges across the USA. There are many reasons for this success. One historic reason was a policy decision taken decades ago, when Ph.D. graduate programs were not available at the Institution, that U. T. El Paso would maximize undergraduate research possibilities, a policy that benefitted both the student body and the ambitious faculty. Dissemination of this policy to local High Schools by participating UG researchers was important and financial support of such research intensive UG programs from NIH (MARC), ACS (PRF), and NSF (LSAMP) cemented the principle, and indeed led to Ph.D. programs being established at U. T. El Paso. UG research programs need outstanding time-committed mentors and they were not in short supply. A further interesting aspect of our success seems, to me, to be associated with the "quaint" idea that Latino and Latina students are a "minority" in a city where ~80% of the population is Hispanic. No socializing of the student into a laboratory of majorities was needed. In this presentation I shall illustrate some quantitative data concerning the history of our success, along with anecdotes, photographs of annual retreats and a quick idea of the National impact of our mentoring. To finish, I shall wonder if more diversity in science leads to more diverse science!.

Success in mentoring and training minority undergraduate scientists to Ph.D. degrees

255th National Meeting (2018)

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