MBRS SCORE Program at California State University, Fresno

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): California State University, Fresno (CSU-Fresno) established an MBRS-SCORE program in June 2000 to strengthen its biomedical research infrastructure so that more clientele from its service area can engage in research careers. The specific goal of the CSU-Fresno program is to make the institution, and in particular its faculty, more competitive in their efforts to build successful and sustainable research programs. The renewed SCORE program presently consists of a single funded research project, i.e., studies on the molecular microbiology of tuberculosis, conducted by a Biology Department faculty member. This proposal presents four supplemental projects to expand the program and to assist in meeting its specific objectives. These four projects, all submitted by recently hired assistant professors from three departments in two university colleges, would diversify the program with three projects from the behavioral sciences, i.e. one on human speech perception, one on infant sleep behavior, and one on choice behavior in animal model organisms, and a fourth from a biologist conducting physiological studies on hormones related to obesity and diabetes. Each of these four faculty members has a strong research record and a demonstrated interest in educating biomedical/behavioral research students. Inclusion of these projects in the SCORE program would greatly assist in meeting the specific objectives of elevated targets for publication, presentation, and grant submission/funding by faculty members in departments with SCORE funding and would also help meet objectives for broadening the program and attracting larger numbers of student researchers. With the limited scope of our recently renewed SCORE program and the limited NIH research funding available at the time, the current program received no administrative funding award. A modest request for administrative support is included in this proposal to strengthen the development and faculty mentoring capabilities of the program and to provide support for maintaining direct contact with NIH staff and the national network of SCORE programs.