# An Adaptation and Evaluation of an Entrepreneurial Research Training Model in Hawaii: The HUI SRC

> **NIH NIH U01** · HAWAII PACIFIC UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $309,976

## Abstract

Program Summary
Only 10% of the faculty research positions in the U.S. are occupied by African Americans,
Hispanics, Native Americans, and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders (NHPI) collectively;
however, they constitute over 30% of the U.S. population. With a leaking higher education
pipeline, and despite decades of efforts, lack of diversity in the scientific workforce continues to
be alarming among underrepresented minorities, particularly Native Hawaiians and Pacific
Islanders (NHPI).
In 2014, the NIH-supported Morgan State University (MSU) Building Infrastructure Leading to
Diversity (BUILD) initiative developed and tested novel programs to encourage and support
undergraduate students to successfully pursue biomedical research careers. Based on a central
“research entrepreneurship” hypothesis, the program engaged undergraduate students in self-
directed entrepreneurial-style research training experiences fostering their sense of autonomy
and increasing their level of interactions with their peers and mentors, thus resulting in a strong
sense of science identity, readiness to lead research, and matriculation in research-oriented
graduate programs. One of the most novel student-level components of the program is the
Student Research Center (SRC), a student-led organization, designed to be a hub for attracting,
training, and engaging undergraduate students—especially those underrepresented in the health
sciences—into biomedical research.
Hawai‘i Pacific University (HPU) proposes the HPU Undergraduate Infrastructure Student
Research Center (HUI SRC) to attract, train, and mentor underrepresented minority students,
particularly Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, in biomedical research. The overarching
goal of this study is to examine the effects of student-centered entrepreneurial research
programs on underrepresented minority students’ attraction, persistence and career success in
biomedical research. The HUI SRC (as adapted from the MSU BUILD program) will be a
student-led organization, designed to be a hub for nurturing students’ creativity coupled with
peer-support and tiered mentoring in pursuing and succeeding in biomedical research, and
enhancing their abilities for graduate education and the scientific workforce. The overarching
goal of this study is to examine the effects of student-centered entrepreneurial research
programs on underrepresented minority students’ attraction, persistence and career success in
biomedical research.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10242870
- **Project number:** 5U01GM138435-02
- **Recipient organization:** HAWAII PACIFIC UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Halaevalu Vakalahi
- **Activity code:** U01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $309,976
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-09-01 → 2023-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10242870

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10242870, An Adaptation and Evaluation of an Entrepreneurial Research Training Model in Hawaii: The HUI SRC (5U01GM138435-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10242870. Licensed CC0.

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