# ASCEND Training Model to Increase Diversity in the Biomedical Research Workforce

> **NIH NIH RL5** · MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $599,091

## Abstract

The mission of the Research Enrichment Core (REC) is to enrich the research experience of
underrepresented minority (URM) undergraduate students at Morgan State University, aligned with the
overal goal of the BUILD inititative of increasing diversity of the biomedical research career workforce. The
REC focuses on three main strategies in order to enrich research: 1) Facilitate and support the Students'
Scientific Research Center's (SSRC) activities; 2) Conduct a Summer Research Institute (SRI), with a focus
on introduction to multidisciplinary research in the health sciences, choosing research topics, and writing an
initial grant proposal; and 3) Offer adequate mentoring after the SRI for improving proposals, conducting
research, analysing statistical data, and writing. The initial exposure of many of our students to
interdisciplinary biomedical research will be through engagement in the SSRC. It's expected that 50
students from each incoming cohort at Morgan State University will become members of the SSRC. The
second phase of exposure of students to research will be through their enrollment in the Summer Research
Institute. In the SRI, the students will receive training in multiple biomedical research disciplines (e.g.,
biology, public health, psychology, and sociology), will learn about multidisciplinary research, and will learn
how research ideas are formed. The REC, in collaboration with the Student Training Core, will select 30
students for each annual Summer Research Institute. After an SRI ends, the Student Training Core, in
collaboration with the REC, will select 20 students each year as ASCEND scholars. Training in the REC is
focused directly on research-related activities, such as proposal writing during the SRI, enriching the
proposal after SRI, and making sure that the students receive adequate mentoring and support during the
execution of their project, in the analysis of data, and in writing and preparing reports and publications.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10447784
- **Project number:** 5RL5GM118972-09
- **Recipient organization:** MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** CHRISTINE F HOHMANN
- **Activity code:** RL5 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $599,091
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2014-09-26 → 2024-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10447784

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10447784, ASCEND Training Model to Increase Diversity in the Biomedical Research Workforce (5RL5GM118972-09). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10447784. Licensed CC0.

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