The University of Alabama at Birmingham has established the Neuroscience Roadmap Scholars Program in an effort to increase the number of graduate students in the field. Prospective graduate students will need to apply and be accepted into the university’s, Graduate Biomedical Sciences, Behavioral Neuroscience, or Vision Science graduate programs.
The Neuroscience Roadmap Scholars Program will provide support, direction, and mentoring for up to six students from underrepresented groups each year. The Roadmap will feature regular workshops, lectures and retreats led by neuroscientists from UAB and other institutions. Each participant will have a career coach, a member of the UAB faculty who is not directly involved in the student’s educational process. These coaches can provide life and career guidance independent of a student’s immediate academic supervisors.
The program is funded in part by a five-year, $250,000 grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
Lori McMahon, professor in the Department of Cell, Developmental and Integrative Biology, director of the UAB Comprehensive Neuroscience Center, and co-director of the Roadmap program, stated that “just as getting from point A to point B requires a map, this new program will provide a comprehensive system — a roadmap — to help graduate students who are among populations underrepresented in neuroscience develop their skills and prepare for careers within this field. The program will provide an in-depth guidance and support system focused on assisting students throughout their graduate careers.”
