Conference Program for Young Minority Scientists

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DESCRIPTION (provided by the applicant): Long Term Objective: Since 1981, the Society for Neuroscience (S FN) has hosted underrepresented minority (UR M) graduate Students and postdoctoral fellows in neuroscience as Traveling Fellows at the Society's Annual Meeting. This activity has been organized by the Society's Minority Education, Training and Professional Advancement Committee (METPAC). In 1997, the SFN took as its long term goal increasing the probability that the Fellows will be trained in leading labs and ultimately acquire positions i n leading departments and institutions where URM neuroscientists are now especially underrepresented. As the largest organization of neuroscientists with many leading neuroscientists as members, the SfN offers special strengths in this task. In the last three years, about 8 fellows have been chosen per year, from strong labs, and provided with 3 years of support, which covered all the expenses of attending the annual meeting and additional support for attending other professional meetings (e.g. Gordon conferences) and summer courses. Specific Aims: The objectives in the present submission are to a) increase the number of fellows already in strong labs, appointed per year for 3-year terms, from 8 to 10; b) add 5 fellows per year who are performing strongly in labs that are not maximally challenging; c) add 3 advanced undergraduates per year, as a contribution to diminishing the pipeline problem; d) provide additional networking and mentoring activities; e) track the progress of the fellows after their 3-year appointments; and f) evaluate the program since 1997 to determine the most effective strategies and progress toward the goal.