The University of Iowa has been awarded a three-year, $1.2 million grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to establish one of only five University Centers of Exemplary Mentoring (UCEM) in the nation.

The centers are located at universities with proven records of educating underrepresented minority graduate students in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) disciplines. Participating universities are expected to expand, strengthen and institutionalize minority recruitment, mentoring, educational support and professional development.

Philip Kutzko, professor of mathematics and biostatistics, and the principal investigator on the UCEM grant, says the designation will allow the UI to attract some of the most talented minority doctoral students in the nation.