Apply On-Line for MIRT - NIH Program GENERAL INFORMATION The Cornell University Undergraduate Research Program (CURP) and the Minority International Research Training Program (MIRT) offers an opportunity for undergraduate students to participate in research related to the investigation of complex ecological interactions in the tropical forest mediated by natural substances of medicinal value. Through participation in this research program, students learn about a wide range of topics related to biodiversity studies, including chemical ecology, biosystematics, conservation, natural products chemistry, marine biology, biomedicines, ethnomedicine, health, diseases, medical entomology, biochemistry, and molecular medicine. A main thrust of this research is on the wealth of biomedicines derived from terrestrial and marine plants, animals, fungi, and microbes, which constitute the biodiversity of the tropical world. The 2002-2003 programs in the Amazon and Caribbean will include investigations in the Amazon basin region of Peru/Brazil (Cornell University EsBaran Field Station and Laboratory on the Yarapa River) or in the Caribbean (Cornell University Biodiversity Laboratory at Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic). Students will also interact with indigenous peoples and local communities of the Amazon and the Caribbean. The purpose of the CURP and MIRT programs is to learn through research. Each student participant will contribute, through material and data collection, to on-going field and biochemical laboratory research related to biodiversity and health. Additionally, each participant will develop, over the course of the program, an individual research project related to biodiversity. For the individual project, each participant will collect field and biochemical laboratory data, give oral presentations at national conferences and at Cornell, and prepare a formal research paper to be published in Emanations from the Rain Forest, an undergraduate research journal, published at Cornell University. If selected, the program covers travel, food, and lodging and provides a stipend. All selected students will be required to take a preparatory course. WHO SHOULD APPLY Undergraduates, graduates and medical students interested in the biomedical sciences, natural product chemistry, and biological sciences, including field biology, conservation, systematics, biochemistry, chemical ecology, herbal pharmacology, ethnobiomedicine, marine biology, health sciences, and medical anthropology may apply. The CURP program is funded in part from private donations and Cornell University Minority International Research Training is supported by the Fogarty International Center and the National Institutes of Health. Underrepresented minorities are strongly encouraged to apply.

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