Progress within the Department of Molecular Biology toward increasing diversity and inclusion has a long history. The charts below show some features of our progress and they highlight our continued commitment to diversity and inclusion within our graduate student body, faculty, and staff. Data and statistics for additional groups and initiatives will be shared on this page as we move forward.

In accord with usage at the National Institutes of Health, we use the term "Underrepresented Minority (URM)" to refer to racial and ethnic groups that have been shown to be underrepresented in biomedical research: Blacks or African Americans, Hispanics or Latinos, American Indians or Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and other Pacific Islanders. (https://diversity.nih.gov/about-us/population-underrepresented)

Graduate Students

Examination of the chart above shows that as soon as diversity recruiting was made a Department of Molecular Biology priority in 2007, URM graduate student applicants and URM student admissions to our program dramatically increased. Moreover, those increased levels have been sustained, and indeed, grown through the present. Note, too, that starting in academic year 2013-14 through the present, the percentage of URM graduate student admissions to the program consistently exceeds the overall admission rate.

Applying and being admitted to the Department of Molecular Biology program are the beginning of the graduate student's journey. Acquiring the Ph.D. is the goal. We track outcomes for URM and female graduate students, as well as outcomes for specific groups and ethnicities as required by the NIH.

The charts above show the subgroups as a percentage of the total number of Ph.D. recipients from the Department of Molecular Biology for the year. Note that time to the Ph.D. is somewhat variable, so students from the same admission year may not complete their Ph.D.s in the same year.

Faculty