ADMINISTRATIVE CORE: PROJECT SUMMARY The overall goal of the Kansas Center for Metabolism and Obesity REsearch (KC-MORE) COBRE program is to establish a multidisciplinary research center focused on expanding our knowledge for the treatment and prevention of obesity, metabolic dysfunction, and obesity-associated disease states. The formation of the Center will create the infrastructure to bring existing research strengths together to grow a self-sustaining research community. In phase one, the KC-MORE will consist of a group of four Research Project Leaders (RPLs), three scientific cores, a public seminar series and annual symposium, a Mentorship and Career Development Program, a Pilot Awards Program, and a Diversity and Inclusion Program. A seven-member Steering Committee made up of the two multi-PIs and the Core and Program Directors will govern and manage the Center with advice and input from an External Advisory Committee (EAC) that will consist of five experts in the field. The KC-MORE will partner with the University and academic departments to develop obesity and metabolism research at the University of Kansas Medical Center (KUMC). The Administrative core will be responsible for the overall management of the administrative, fiscal, educational, and scientific aspects of the KC-MORE. This Core will play an important leadership role by setting the overall scientific direction of the Center’s activities, coordinating and integrating the Center’s functions, and promoting internal and external collaborative interactions. The Administrative core will strengthen interactions between the KC-MORE COBRE and the institution by interfacing its activities with other programs, centers, and institutes at KUMC, and by integrating the research cores with existing institutional shared resource centers and cores. The Administrative core will be responsible for coordinating the leadership activities, arranging for the EAC meetings and program evaluations, providing administrative and accounting support to the RPLs and cores, and developing and administering the seminar series and educational programs. In addition, the core will also house three critical additional activities. These are the formal mentoring program, an annual pilot awards program, and a diversity and inclusion program. The overall aims of the Administrative core include the following: creating the infrastructure necessary for center oversight, providing financial and administrative management to the Center, leading the mentoring and career development program, and conducting an annual pilot awards program.