Biology professor Dr. John Roe has been named winner of the 2020 Undergraduate Research Mentor Award given by the Pembroke Undergraduate Research and Creativity Center Council (PURC).

This recognition rewards individuals who make significant contributions to forwarding undergraduate research, creative scholarship, and entrepreneurial scholarship. It highlights demonstrated excellence in supporting undergraduate researchers, encouraging mentoring relationships with undergraduate students, and conveying the campus' high regard for contributions made by the academic and research community at UNC Pembroke, particularly if a mentor supports and influences students’ educational and career paths.

Exemplary mentors can demonstrate continued success in helping students produce tangible results that may include peer-reviewed publications; student presentations, awards, or scholarships. Excellent undergraduate mentors support students through their availability, attentiveness, encouragement, and understanding. In many disciplines, this mentoring is done by faculty, staff, postdoctoral researchers, and graduate students.

Dr. Roe is a herpetologist whose research focuses on the ecology of box turtles. During his time at UNCP Dr. Roe has mentored 31 undergraduate student researchers of whom nine have gone on to study in graduate programs. Among his numerous peer-reviewed publications, he has published five with student co-authors.

To quote one of his former students: “The relationships he cultivates with his students reverberate in their personal and professional lives…”