Project summary/abstract: National data on career choices of emerging scientists indicate that less than 25% pursue a traditional independent pathway in an academic environment. This grim reality is even worse for underrepresented minorities (URM), who represent 39% of college age individuals yet only 13% of PhDs in life sciences. In 2015, we were awarded a NIGM R25 Initiative for Maximizing Student Development (Rush-IMSD). Rush R25-IMSD was charged with training pre-doctoral URMs in biological sciences at Rush University in Chicago, IL. Although Rush R25-IMSD was a budding program, we achieved an impressive track record in our first 5 years of training and retaining of PhD URMs students, some of whom received F31s and/or research supplement awards. This formal structure dedicated to URM PhD training, a first at Rush, was instrumental in building alliances to promote URM education within and outside of our university. Specifically, Rush R25-IMSD is a documented success aligned with institutional commitment for diversity and inclusion. With the recognition that minorities continue to be underrepresented in PhD life science programs, and consequently the biomedical workforce does not reflect the diversity of our nation, we propose a new program for training of URM PhD students at Rush University under a T32 mechanism (as NIGM is phasing out R25 IMSDs). The pillars of T32 IMSD-Rush is a triad of rigorous mentoring, education, and research training of pre- doctoral URM students through harnessing the expertise of nationally recognized mentors and program faculty across several departments. Three students per year will be selected to participate in T32 IMSD-Rush and supported for the first three years of matriculation (an additional participant will be under institutional support). Together, we expect a cohort of 20 students over five years. The overarching goal of T32 IMSD-Rush will be attained through two interrelated specific aims: 1) Train emerging URM scientists in technical and operational basis of discipline-based research: T32 IMSD-Rush will be inter-and multidisciplinary program for training of URM PhD students in one of several disciplines (immunology/microbiology, physiology and biophysics, cell and molecular medicine, neurologic sciences, orthopedics/bioengineering). Participants will select a discipline and be matched with a primary mentor who along with nationally recognized leaders will guide the research development of the participant from idea conception to successful execution (e.g., the operational phase of training include knowledge acquisition, rigorous experimental design and data interpretation). Participants will also be trained in highly innovative and cutting-edge technology that can be used across disciplines to address impactful scientific questions and discoveries through designated workshops in imaging (live cell imaging, CT scans, confocal microscopy), small animal models (animal care, humanized mice, transgenic rats),...