Expansion of Research Infrastructure at Stephens College

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The purpose of this application for phase III funding is to further enhance the research capabilities at Stephens College by supporting the following activities: (1) increase the opportunities for faculty to conduct research in the biomedical and behavioral areas by providing funds for pilot projects to be used to compete for nationally recognized grants in science research and training, and to provide release time on a competitive basis to two faculty per year; (2) increase the awareness of the OSP Director of new NIH and related agencies' research and training opportunities by traveling to NIH and other government agencies annually; (3) expand the abilities of the OSP to continue to train faculty and staff in research and training grant application and preparation by offering grant writing workshops annually as well as the continued development of procedures and policies within our online grant writers handbook, with a special focus on revising our IRB guidelines and forms and to undertake and complete the institutional capability assessment; (4) continue to expand our efforts to create research collaborative activities with the University of Missouri, Lincoln University, and the Cancer Research Center by writing collaborative grants and conducting collaborative research; (5) increase student participation in research, and subsequently their desire to pursue careers in science and research, by providing student mentoring and research opportunities with faculty through our research internship program, bringing in guest speakers, and by encouraging students to pursue REU experiences in the summer at major research institutions; (6) to continue to expand our technologies thereby gaining opportunities to seek Federal and non-Federal resources which provide financial support to biomedical and behavioral research and training programs. A number of grant opportunities already exist specifically designed to enhance the research opportunities for underrepresented minorities in biomedical and behavioral sciences, like the RISE, SCORE, MARC and BRIDGES grants. However, Stephens College, as a tradition women's institution, does not qualify for any of these special opportunities. This requires Stephens College to be competitive with larger and well-established schools for funds. Continuation of this grant will serve to further the goal of the college to increase our competitiveness for external funding and improve our excellence in research training.