Rapidly Accelerated Research Experience The Rapidly Accelerated Research Experience (RARE) is a four-year, comprehensive program for students from underrepresented backgrounds with a passion for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). Through focused research experiences, innovative curricula, dedicated advising, community- and identity-building initiatives, and an emphasis on professional rigor and discipline, the program supports critical diversity within STEM fields and shapes the development of exceptional young investigators. Attracting students from across Lehigh’s colleges and originally founded with support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), RARE is preparing tomorrow’s innovators today. RARE is supported by the Braxton Endowment Fund, established during GO by Lehigh professor of molecular biology and co-director of the RARE program Dr. Vassie C. Ware and William J. Taylor, Founder of asset management firm Miravast. The fund is named in honor of Dr. Ware’s maternal “ IT IS THE RIGHT THING TO DO. I HAVE ALWAYS WANTED TO MOVE SOMETHING FORWARD. MY GRANDMOTHER ALWAYS SAID, ‘YOU DO NOT ENJOY SOMETHING UNLESS YOU BRING SOMEBODY ALONGWITH YOU’.” Vassie C. Ware Lehigh professor of molecular biology and co-director of the RARE program grandparents: Vassie and Richard Braxton, who sent their four African American daughters to college in the 1930s and 1940s. The fund continues theicrommitment to education by expanding access to STEM fields for underrepresented and low income students. “It is the right thing to do. I have always wanted to move something forward,” says Ware. “My grandmother always said, ‘You do not enjoy something unless you bring somebody along with you’.” 23
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