Dr. Renee Gilberti

Program Coordinator- McNair Scholars

Center for Academic Programs


Fascinated with the biological sciences since she began school, Dr. Gilberti studied microbiology at the University of New Hampshire (B.S., 2003) because of a hands-on microbiology course during high school. Without becoming involved in undergraduate research at the University of New Hampshire, she would not have known she wanted to earn a Ph.D. or be a scientist. From August 2003 – 2011, she studied the phagocytosis of crystalline silica particles by mouse alveolar lung macrophages as a Cell and Developmental Biology Ph.D. student within the University of Connecticut Molecular and Cell Biology Ph.D. program, and then accepted a position at UConn Health as a Post-doctoral Research Fellow within the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry studying the role of the dynein motor protein during intraflagellar transport using Chlamydomonas reinhardtii as the model organism.

Since April 2013, Dr. Gilberti (known to her students as Dr. Renée) has worked with McNair Scholars to equip them with the tools to pursue graduate education after earning their Bachelor’s degrees from UConn. The mission of the McNair Scholars Program is to prepare UConn STEM majors who are the first in their families to go to college, from low income households, and self-identify as underrepresented races and ethnicities in higher education, for Ph.D. degrees in the STEM disciplines. Programming includes 1:1 mentorship; establishment and maintenance of a robust, independent research project with a UConn STEM professor; courses and workshops to hone academic writing, research presentation, and professional development skills; GRE preparation; thorough graduate school application guidance; and STEM conference opportunities. McNair Scholars actively participate in a 9-week summer research experience at UConn-Storrs, and a 2-week hands-on STEM laboratory shadowing experience is available to freshman and sophomore students, known as the McNair Fellows.

Dr. Gilberti is the Instructor of Record for the UNIV 1820 First Year Experience course, Exploring STEM Research 101, open to all UConn freshmen and sophomores both fall and spring semesters, and UNIV 2100, Preparation for STEM Academic Research, open to all UConn sophomores and juniors each spring semester. In both courses, the emphasis is on building strong critical thinking and writing skills, fostering connections with UConn STEM graduate students and professors, and becoming immersed in undergraduate research projects.