About The Museum Research Traineeship
Funded by a National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) grant, the Museum Research Traineeship (MRT) is an innovative interdisciplinary graduate education and research training program centered in the science museums at UNM. Core participating departments include Anthropology, Biology, Earth & Planetary Sciences, Geography & Environmental Studies, and Museum Studies.Museum Collections
The MRT aims to create opportunities for an intellectually diverse community of trainees, faculty, and partners to engage in research and educational activities that analyze and interpret objects and data held in museums and collections. A collaborative effort among the Museum of Southwestern Biology, the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, and the Paleobiology Collection in Earth and Planetary Sciences at UNM, the program utilizes our institution's world-class museum collections to better understand how climate change, emerging pathogens, ecosystem transformation, and geological processes impact integrated socio-environmental systems.
Imaging and Material Science Technology
Students will use cutting-edge imaging and material science technology to develop new ways to interpret museum objects, such as biological specimens, pottery sherds, fossils, geological samples, and associated data. Through collaborative research activities, trainees will embrace integrative approaches to problem-solving and explore new ways to enhance the utility of museum objects to address the most important questions facing society today.
Interdisciplinary Science Cooperative
The program leverages technical expertise and infrastructure in the Interdisciplinary Science Cooperative, which houses research centers with expertise in geochemistry, genomics, informatics, geospatial analysis, high-resolution imaging and visualization, and the interdisciplinary expertise of the UNM Museum Studies Program.
Career Opportunities
The MRT is designed to educate, train, and connect our trainees to professional opportunities to impact future research, education, and policy in academic, government, non-governmental, and private organizations.
Competitive Fellowships
The MRT offers a competitive one-year fellowship for UNM graduate students in their first year, including stipend support, paid tuition, fees, and health insurance. The recipients must be US citizens continuously enrolled as full-time graduate students for the award term, excluding the summer.
Learn about the MRT experience here.
