BALTIMORE -- On a cold morning in a Remsen Hall chemistry lab at the Johns Hopkins University, five undergraduates laughed and chatted as they mixed together amino acids and catalysts, trying to better understand the origins of life.
The undergraduates are all premedical students scattered across various majors in science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM. They share three other traits: They are freshmen, they are first-generation college students and they are women of color.
The five students were chosen to participate in FiGURE, which stands for first-generation undergraduate research experience. According to Hopkins, 21% of its freshman class are first-generation students.
