A Collaborative Initiative

Student working in a lab.

Funded by a grant from the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), a new program called the 21st Century Environmental Health Scholars (21EH Scholars) will help increase diversity and access to the field of environmental health sciences. 

The program is a collaboration among the UNC Institute for the Environment, the Curriculum in Toxicology and Environmental Medicine in the UNC School of Medicine and the Department of Biological and Biomedical Sciences at North Carolina Central University (NCCU). 21EH Scholars is designed to support students who are underrepresented in STEM fields. 

“In 21EH Scholars, we’re broadening access to environmental health sciences research by engaging students who have typically been underrepresented in STEM disciplines,” said Kathleen Gray, research associate professor in the Institute and one of three principal investigators for the program. 

“To solve our most pressing environmental problems, we need the enhanced creativity and productivity typically associated with diverse teams, and we expect this program to ultimately contribute to a more diverse environmental health sciences workforce.”

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