ODU Joins Group Aimed at Increasing Minority Ph.D. Students in Marine Science

Old Dominion has joined forces with Hampton University and the College of William and Mary to increase the number of under-represented minority students earning doctorates in marine and ocean sciences through a program supported by a $1.1 million award from the National Science Foundation.

The Hall-Bonner Program for Minority Doctoral Scholars in Ocean Sciences was announced during a ceremony April 30 on the HU campus.

"Today, there are excellent programs that reach out to minority students at the K-12 and undergraduate levels, but data show that these students are not taking the final step and getting their Ph.D.s," said Gregory Cutter, director of the ODU component of the program and professor of ocean, earth and atmospheric sciences. "This is what the Hall-Bonner Program seeks to achieve, to prime the pump, and as such make itself irrelevant after some time."

The program will build on the recognized strengths in graduate-level education in the marine and ocean sciences of the region's two major state-assisted universities.

Students will earn their degrees following the normal doctoral curricula at either ODU or William and Mary, and then take additional specialized courses at Hampton. The Hall-Bonner program will provide full support for tuition and stipends.

Six students are currently members of the program. Andrea Rocha, who earned her bachelor's degree from Texas A&M, will study biological oceanography at Old Dominion under Margaret Mulholland, assistant professor of ocean, earth and atmospheric sciences.

The program is named for two leaders who helped establish marine science education at Hampton University - the late professor Anita Hall and the retired dean of the School of Science, Robert Bonner.

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