Research and Site Descriptions

Our Program

The program provides students and faculty an opportunity to engage in scientific research in an environment that is culturally and socially different from what they are used to. Selected participants will engage in natural products and/or environmental health research at one of three sites on the continent of Africa: the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, Egerton University in Kenya, and the University of Benin in Nigeria.

The program has been carefully designed to promote different ways of thinking, expand the concept of team work, provide exposure to new and unique areas of research, and promote global cooperation in science. The participants will have an opportunity to learn about traditional healing practices and the integration of those practices in scientific investigations of natural products; they will study environmental problems and their impact on community health; and they will be exposed to a variety of opportunities for service-learning.

This International Research Training activity was established at Hampton University in 1995 with an initial group of four students and one faculty member who spent that summer in the natural products research laboratory at the University of Dar es Salaam. The sites at Egerton and Benin were established in subsequent years as the demand for research and study abroad opportunities increased. A total of 90 students and faculty from colleges and universities across the United States have participated in the program since 1995.

Eligibility and Support: The program is open to sophomores, juniors, seniors, and graduate students in science and engineering fields, as well as medical and related fields. All program expenses are paid for by a grant from the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health.

• MHIRT Participants and Research Projects
• Current Application

The Research Training Sitess

For more information about our three reasearch training sites, please click on one of the following links:

• University of Dar es Salaam, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
• Egerton University, Njoro, Kenya
• University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria

Application deadline is February 15th of each year.

Dr. Isai T. Urasa
Professor of Chemistry & Chairman
MHIRT Program Director
Department of Chemistry
Hampton University, Hampton, VA 23668
757-727-5396
Isai.urasa@hamptonu.edu