Welcome to the Florida International University Minority Opportunities in Research Education.
The FIU MORE Program began in 1985 and has grown to include the MBRS RISE, MBRS SCORE and MARC U-STAR Programs.  The FIU Minority Opportunities in Research (MORE) Program currently supports 36 students on more than 8 research projects (funded by NIGMS/NIH). The FIU MORE Program not only funds the research projects but also promotes the involvement of undergraduate and graduate students in research providing salaries for the students, tuition for graduate students, and travel funds for the students to attend scientific meetings. The students are involved in original research and, depending on their level, are expected to present their work at professional meetings and publish the results. In addition to directly involving students in a research experience, the FIU MORE Program additionally brings prominent guest speakers to campus to meet with students, sponsors an annual mini-symposium (guest speaker and student presentations), and provides a clearing house for students to learn about special training programs and career opportunities, such as NIH internships, for which several of our students have been chosen. 

                                                     MBRS Success

The MORE Program at FIU has had many student successes and has been a major conduit for FIU minority undergraduate students entering research careers.  This is reflected in one FIU MBRS student (Leticia Vega) winning a Howard Hughes Fellowship to attend Massachusetts Institute of Technology where she received her PhD in molecular biology in 1999.  She is currently a Helen Hay Whitney Fellow in the molecular biology dept at Post - Doc at Princeton.  After earning a BS in Biology & MS in Biology at FIU, Henry Rodriguez attended Boston University where he received his PhD in Molecular & Cellular Biology.  He is currently at the National Institute of Standard & Technology.  Daniel De Aquiar received his PhD from Harvard and was a NSF Post - Doctoral fellow at the University of Florida.  Ivonne Vidal Pizarro is working towards her PhD degree in neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania.  In the fall of 1996, Pamela Antunez de Mayolo started her molecular biology PhD degree at Carnegie Mellon and Theresa Pinto a microbiology PhD program a U.C. Berkeley.  In 1998, Gabriela Antunez de Mayolo, Adriana Antunez de Mayolo and Ana Quiñones started their PhD programs at Penn. State, Columbia and Yale respectively.  At the same time, Emmanuel Thomas started his MD/PhD program at the University of Miami.
 

Aside from funding faculty and students in the departments to keep the methodology and
research knowledge current and networks open, the MORE Program has directly enriched
the scientific departments by  bringing outside speakers to FIU.  Additionally, in 1998 the FIU MBRS Program bought a "Production and Use of Microsatellites in Genetic Analyses" training course to FIU from the University of Florida Molecular Core Facility and trained 26 faculty and students from nine different research groups and allowed them to develop microsatellite libraries for their work.  FIU MORE faculty and students have been singled out for honors during the last five years.  Dr. Nongjian Tao received a 1996 FIU Faculty Award of Excellence in Research.  In 1996 Dr. Sylvia Smith was awarded a Research Fellowship from the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Sciences for a one - month research visit to Japan.  Dr. Rene Herrera was an invited plenary speaker at the Second Forensics Experts Conference and the 4^th Congress of the Latin American Association of Biological Anthropology in 1996, the 16^th International Council of Electrophoresis Societies in 1997 and the First Latin American conference on Forensics DNA Analysis,  the Third Cambridge Symposium on Forensic DNA Analysis and the IX Spanish Congress of Biological Anthropology in 1998.  In 1998, the Director, Dr. Bigger received a FIU Outstanding Service Award.  The FIU College of Arts & Sciences awarded the 1996 Outstanding Academic Achievement Awards to MBRS students Adeyemi Iyanoye and Emmanuel Thomas, the Outstanding Service to the Department Award to MBRS student Ricardo Calonge and to MBRS student Theresa Pinto (BS Biology and BA Religious Studies).  MBRS students Emmanuel Thomas (1998) and Yanet Piriz (1999)
have earned a BS with Honors in Biology.  Additionally,  MARC U-STAR students Janette Garcia,
Montserrat Alfaro and Marina Olman earned a BS with Honors in Biology in 2001.

© Copyright 2003 Florida International University, Miami, FL 33199 Minority Opportunities in Research Education (MORE). All Rights Reserved.  Revised: 12/09/2004