Program Overview
The primary goal of the Mentored Experiences in Research, Instruction, and Teaching Program is to provide postdoctoral scholars with outstanding research and teaching experiences while improving the recruitment of underrepresented minorities into the field of biomedical research. The immediate objective of the MERIT Program is to enhance the research backgrounds and teaching experiences of developing scientists to conduct high quality research in an academic environment. Long-term objectives for this program are three-fold: i) to enhance research-oriented teaching at minority serving institutions; ii) to further promote interactions between research-intensive universities and minority serving institutions that will lead to collaborations in research and teaching; and iii) to increase the number of well-qualified underrepresented minority students entering competitive careers in biomedical research. To achieve these objectives, qualified postdoctoral scholars are recruited into a three year program that provides research experiences at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and teaching experiences at two minority serving institutions, Miles College and Stillman College. Through these experiences, the postdoctoral scholars gain knowledge and skills in both biomedical research and higher education instructional design. Together, UAB, Miles College, and Stillman College collaborate in the overall design, improvement, and sustainability of the MERIT Program.
The goal and objectives of the MERIT Program are founded upon two central concerns cited in the NIH/NIGMS IRACDA Program; these concerns are as follows: i) "Underrepresented minorities constitute a small fraction of the postdoctoral fellows within the life sciences and an even smaller fraction of the principal investigators of NIH research grants. In addition, the number of underrepresented minority applicants for research grants and training positions is consistently low."; and ii) "A separate but contemporary problem is that many new scientists find that the traditional postdoctoral research experience does not give them the best preparation for entering an academic environment in which teaching and other problem-solving skills are essential.".
The underlying philosophy that drives the MERIT Program is that successful academicians combine a love of learning and teaching with a passion for research. The mission of the MERIT Program, therefore, is to provide experiences in both teaching and research that will permit a diverse community of postdoctoral scholars to become tomorrow's leading academicians.