Scientific Mentoring and Research Experiences Core

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Scientific Mentoring and Research Experiences (SMRE) Core – Abstract: Representation of minority groups in alcohol research and other academic careers is important, but there are significant disparities found in academia1. Evidence suggests these disparities can be improved by structured mentoring that cultivates interests, experiences, and skills of underrepresented minorities (URMs) in the sciences and fosters their retention in academia1. The NCCU alcohol research laboratories in the current proposal were developed through a previous funded partnership grant focused on developing independent alcohol investigators. A primary goal of the current RFA is to promote the participation of URM scientists, and this new Scientific Mentoring and Research Experiences Core (SMRE) directly addresses this goal. Importantly, this Core will also increase productivity for each research component by mentoring NCCU students and supporting their expertise in complex scientific methods. UNC ARC and NCCU collaborative partnerships have always involved undergraduate and graduate URM students, but this proposal expands existing alcohol research collaborative partnerships with the additional goal of increasing student matriculation into alcohol research programs. By providing tailored experiences and infrastructure that enables student research success, we strengthen each component and facilitate student interests into lifelong biomedical careers. This includes mentoring in complex scientific methods for alcohol research projects, mentoring from multiple UNC ARC alcohol PIs, as well as professional development skills. RCMIs are strong teaching institutions, with students comprising the bulk of the research workforce. Accordingly, in prior years of this partnership, we found that strengthening the alcohol research expertise of NCCU students not only enhanced the pipeline of URM researchers, but it also improved the quality and productivity of each research project. We now propose focused initiatives to strengthen the scientific expertise of students in each research project. This includes mentoring in academic scholarship, scientific communication, grantsmanship, scientific rigor, responsible conduct of research, and complex scientific methods tailored for each scientific component. Increasing research skills and career coaching for NCCU students will promote student interest and benefit research project productivity, increasing successful discoveries that will help develop projects’ independent funding as well as increasing academic and biomedical workforce diversity. To accomplish these goals, we propose to: (1) provide NCCU undergraduates with mentoring in complex scientific methods and career development to improve scientific skills and promote entrance of URMs into alcohol research, (2) provide NCCU graduate students within collaborating components focused mentoring and instruction in complex methods tailored to each research component, and (3) facilitate laboratory mentors with evidence-based training in mentorship of diverse populations. This Core will strengthen each component by providing resources to the scientific development of the students on each component.