The Alliance creates a pipeline of outstanding students through a series of programs meant to support outstanding undergraduates and graduate students from historically underrepresented groups to pursue careers in education, research, and teaching. These opportunities include K-12 programs, undergraduate research programs, graduate support programs and fellowships, faculty development opportunities, and national symposia. In the process, the Alliance seeks to develop a generation of outstanding minority leaders and role models not only in higher education, but in the public and private sectors as well.

You may learn more about the Leadership Alliance and its programs by visiting the website at http://www.theleadershipalliance.org.

The Leadership Alliance Summer Research Early Identification Program (SR-EIP) offers students the opportunity to work for eight to ten weeks under the guidance of a faculty or research mentor at a participating Alliance institution or corporate sponsor. Through this one-on-one collaboration, students gain theoretical knowledge and practical training in academic research and scientific experimentation.

SR-EIP is designed to encourage traditionally underserved and underrepresented students in the sciences, social sciences and humanities to consider research careers in academia or the public or private sector. The research experience also includes weekly seminars, regularly scheduled field trips as well as social and cultural activities. Students are required to present a written report and/or abstract at the end of their summer research activity and complete a program evaluation. All participants are expected to participate in the Leadership Alliance's annual national symposium and to present their research results through oral, or poster presentations. The goal for each student is to learn more about academic life, both by helping with faculty research projects and by engaging in her or his own research.

New York University is proud to support two Summer Research Programs affiliated with the Leadership Alliance - the Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) in the biomedical sciences and the Leadership Alliance SR-EIP in the humanities and social sciences. The programs involve no expense on the part of the student or home institution. Travel to and from New York and housing on Washington Square or Union Square are paid for, and each student receives a stipend of $3,000. During the summer, students have full access to university facilities and will take part in various social and cultural events, special seminars, and other activities.

Update: NYU will not be accepting applications or hosting a humanities and social sciences program in 2007.

Last summer, students attended Broadway performances of Master Harold and the Boys, Lo Boheme, and Aida, and they enjoyed tours of Harlem and Greenwich Village. They also participated in activities with students from Alliance summer programs from Columbia and Yale Universities. Such opportunities, many available only in New York City, supplement educational experiences and convey the richness of student life at NYU.

At the heart of the summer research program is the mentoring relationship between individual students and faculty members. Faculty provide intellectual guidance and mentoring; while individual research projects dictate the terms of the relationships, mentors typically meet their students at least once per week during the summer session. Among the faculty who have served as mentors in past summer programs are: Renee Blake (Linguistics), Dalton Conley (Sociology), Manthia Diawara (Africana Studies), Ada Ferrer (History), Phillip Harper (English/American Studies), Diane Hughes (Psychology), Sylvie Kande (Africana Studies), Yaw Nyarko (Economics), Cyrus Patell (English), Beth Shinn (Psychology), Sandra Smith (Sociology), and Diana Taylor (Performance Studies).

While all faculty members are not available to serve as mentors every year, there is a widespread commitment in the Faculty of Arts and Science to the work of the Leadership Alliance and to mentoring in the summer research program. Students are urged to consult the searchable Faculty Profiles database to review the research interests of our faculty.

Often those who spend a summer here working under the supervision of a faculty member decide to apply to NYU for graduate study. Nearly a dozen former Alliance students in various disciplines are, in fact, currently enrolled in Ph.D. programs and with full funding of their studies. Wherever their academic or other destination, however, students' research and association with faculty promise to combine with the broader cultural experience of spending a summer in New York City to enrich them intellectually and personally.

Students may apply directly to either of the NYU Summer Research Programs. (Students may also apply to NYU programs, along with affiliated summer programs, through the central Leadership Alliance office at Brown University.) The deadline for all program applications is February 1. For further information on the SURP and the Summer Research Program in the Humanities and Social Sciences Program, please contact, respectively,

Dr. Joel Oppenheim
Director, Sackler Institute of
Graduate Biomedical Sciences
212.263.8001
oppenj01@popmail.med.nyu.edu
http://www.med.nyu.edu/Sackler/summer.html

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