# ASPIRE - A Joint Johns Hopkins, Morgan State and Coppin State IRACDA Program

> **NIH NIH K12** · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $563,734

## Abstract

A postdoctoral training program called ASPIRE (Academic Success via Postdoctoral Independence in
Research and Education) is proposed to be run jointly between the Johns Hopkins University (JHU), Morgan
State University (MSU), and Coppin State University (CSU), all located in Baltimore, Maryland. Postdoctoral
scholars will be recruited at a national level for a specialized program focused on translational research,
bringing together technological innovations and biomedical science to impact major health problems in the
United States and the world. Scholars will benefit from the world class research performed at the Johns
Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHSOM) and the exceptional education of underrepresented minority
students enrolled at MSU (79% of the student population are African-American) and CSU (86% of the student
population are African Americans), and will be groomed to become future academics and research-educators.
The goals of this program are three-fold: (1) To prepare the next generation of broadly trained biomedical
engineers for careers in diverse academic environments which combine research and teaching, (2) To
increase STEM student retention and graduation rates at MSU and CSU, and (3) to enhance student research
training capacity and faculty interactions in the areas of biomedical science and engineering. Each year, the
scholars will balance research (75% effort) and teaching (25% effort) to achieve program goals. Three new
ASPIRE scholars will be accepted each year up through Year 4 of this five-year program. The research
program will be directed at the training of the future generation of biomedical scientists and engineers, who
bring together the disciplines of biology, medicine and engineering. Each scholar will be trained in scientific
laboratories at JHSOM and co-mentored by one of 29 Hopkins core faculty members in the School of
Engineering and a clinical collaborator in the School of Medicine. In addition to their research training, scholars
will earn a Teaching Academy certificate after participating in pedagogy training workshops at Hopkins and
Morgan and a teaching practicum at Morgan or Coppin, designed in consultation with one of 25 Morgan and
Coppin faculty teaching mentors. ASPIRE scholars will be part of a vibrant inter-institutional community, and
they will have opportunities to mentor Morgan and Coppin students on research projects at Hopkins. Year 1
will focus on research immersion at JHU and pedagogical training at JHU, MSU and CSU. By Year 2, scholars
will have made significant progress on their project and completed mentored teaching modules. In Year 3,
scholars will begin the transition to research independence and will develop course modules or teach courses
independently. By the end of their three-year training period, scholars will have advanced their academic
careers in research and education, motivated new diverse populations of students towards biomedical
careers, and promoted teaching and rese...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10411968
- **Project number:** 5K12GM123914-05
- **Recipient organization:** JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** LISA D. BROWN
- **Activity code:** K12 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $563,734
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-09-01 → 2024-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10411968

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10411968, ASPIRE - A Joint Johns Hopkins, Morgan State and Coppin State IRACDA Program (5K12GM123914-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10411968. Licensed CC0.

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