The McNair Scholars Program at West Virginia University is now accepting applications for its 2014 Summer Research Internship.

Through financial aid, academic advising and undergraduate research opportunities, the McNair Scholars Program supports underrepresented students toward their doctorate degrees.

The program is recruiting rising juniors and seniors who meet the following criteria:

– Are in the first-generation in their family to attend college and low-income student or member of an underrepresented group such as African-American, Hispanic-American, Native American, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander

– Will have completed sophomore year by May 2014

– Have a GPA of 3.0 or higher

– Are a U.S. citizen or permanent resident

– Have a desire to pursue graduate degrees

Benefits include $2,400 in stipends, graduate school and GRE preparation, research opportunities with WVU faculty, free conference travel and campus visits, cultural activities and a shot at publication.

McNair Scholars participate in a six-week summer research internship, year-round graduate school preparation seminars, conduct a research project under the guidance of a faculty mentor and present research at a national McNair conference.

Recent McNair Scholars have ventured onto other success. One scholar from the 2012 cohort, Rachel James, became a national Goldwater Scholar. Another McNair Scholar, from the 2005 cohort, was recently invited to a White House conference on parent incarceration in the U.S. Heather Washington is now an assistant professor of criminal justice at the University of New York-Albany.

“I’m very proud of Dr. Washington and of other alumni and scholars who have gone through our program, and are doing great things in our country,” said Betty Mei, director of the McNair Scholars Program at WVU.

The McNair Scholars Program is funded by the U.S. Department of Education in honor of engineer, scientist and NASA astronaut Ronald E. McNair, who was killed in the 1986 Challenger explosion. The program came to WVU in 2000, and since then more than 100 Mountaineers have benefited.

A video on the program can be viewed here.

Applications can be downloaded from http://mcnair.wvu.edu/.

Application deadline is Jan. 15.

-WVU-

js/10/23/13

CONTACT: Betty Mei, McNair Scholars Program
304.293.4316; Betty.Mei@mail.wvu.edu

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