URI gets grant:

Discovery

Two scientists at the University of Rhode Island have been awarded a federal grant that aims to increase diversity in the biomedical sciences, according to the school.

URI said Assistant Professor Bryan Dewsbury and Associate Professor Niall Howlett have been awarded a five-year, $1.25 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to provide research opportunities to minority students. They will provide four students annually with a $10,000 scholarship and a $13,000 stipend, plus additional money for research materials and conferences.

The students will conduct research in a biomedical, behavioral or health sciences research laboratory.

“The research world, especially biomedical, is not very diverse, and that’s a problem for basic equity issues of access,” Dewsbury said in a statement. “In addition, without sociological diversity, you lack a diversity of ideas. It’s especially a problem because there are consequences from the kinds of questions scientists ask and don’t ask.”

It’s the first training grant awarded by the National Institutes of Health to the university. Dewsbury and Howlett hope it will lead to additional grants to help further diversify undergraduate research. (AP)