Funded DTA Projects

Chemistry Diversity Initiative: A Graduate Student Program for Success

PI: Jean Chmielewski, Alice Watson Kramer Distinguished Professor of Chemistry

In recent years, Purdue’s Chemistry department held the distinction of being second in the nation in number of PhD degrees granted to underrepresented minority (URM) students and first in URM growth from 1995-2009, averaging eight students per year during that time period. Since 2009, however, there has been a precipitous drop in the number of URM students entering the graduate program in Chemistry. Dr. Chmielewski, a distinguished professor of chemistry, will lead this team to put her department back on the track of training talented URM students. The project will use new and expanded efforts to attract applicants from targeted universities. A program will be designed to mentor URM graduate students through the acceptance process, and will maintain support through the successful matriculation and professional development of these students through the graduate program. The team will partner with the Graduate School, the College of Science, and summer research programs to leverage existing strengths.

Team members: Jon Wilker, professor, Chemistry; Corey Thompson, assistant professor, Chemistry; Christopher Pulliam, graduate student, Chemistry; Colby Adolph, graduate student, Chemistry; Stella Betancourt, graduate student, Chemistry; Phil Wyss, programming specialist/staff, Chemistry; Suzanne Bart, professor, Chemistry; Candice Kissinger, assistant head, Chemistry; Dwight Lewis, director, Multicultural Programs, Graduate School; Zenephia Evans, director, Science Diversity Office; Kathy Dixon, program director, AGEP/SROP, Graduate School; Susan Mendrysa, associate professor/co-director, Veterinary Medicine.