# STIMULUS - Science & Technology Immersion for Underrepresentd Learners in the U.S.

> **NIH NIH R25** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · 2024 · $128,520

## Abstract

Project Summary:
Black, Latino, and Native American students fall far behind their White and Asian counterparts in
representation within science employment and academic programs. This disparity is especially noticeable
within the ethnically-diverse California Bay Area that is rich in biomedical and engineering opportunities.
Similar to other parts of the country, students of color are consistently underrepresented. For example, in 2013,
11% of the U.S. workforce was Black but only 6% of those employed in science jobs were Black. In
comparison, White and Asians are 3-times more likely to be employed in science jobs compared to the
domestic workforce. Despite decades of legislation and policy changes, these statistics have changed
minimally over 30 years. Since its founding, Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHORI) has set
addressing these disparities in our community as a mission objective. To that end, CHORI created a Summer
Student Research Program (SSRP) nearly four decades ago to promote diversity in biomedical training by
providing a short-term, one-on-one mentored research experience to underrepresented students with potential
to significantly contribute to a culturally-representative scientific research workforce. For 38 years, we have
secured uninterrupted funding to develop this program while continuing to expand and improve by adding
training and experiences that will appeal to the modern student. The next innovation we call STIMULUS –
Science & Technology IMmersion for Underrepresented Learners in the US – seeks to utilize the R25
mechanism to support 18 undergraduate or health professional students each year for the next five years. With
STIMULUS, the existing program infrastructure will be upgraded to strengthen our curriculum to better match
the diversity of the students and evolving needs of the scientific marketplace. This multi-faceted proposal
provides many enhancements, including a new collaboration with the University of California Berkeley, School
of Bioengineering, more comprehensive training workshops, expanded recruiting from regional pipeline
programs and historically black colleges, formalized program for near-peer mentoring, enhanced alumni
tracking and evaluation, and an innovative case-based approach for bioethics education. We expect these
program enhancements will allow us to reach more under-represented students and have a longer-lasting
impact on the selected students to pursue a career in biomedical or clinical research by stimulating their
interest, arming them with practical professional development skills, and increasing their confidence in science,
thereby improving their likelihood of success in the Science Technology Engineering Math (STEM) workforce.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10819210
- **Project number:** 5R25HL125451-10
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO
- **Principal Investigator:** ELLEN B FUNG
- **Activity code:** R25 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $128,520
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2015-04-01 → 2025-09-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10819210

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10819210, STIMULUS - Science & Technology Immersion for Underrepresentd Learners in the U.S. (5R25HL125451-10). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10819210. Licensed CC0.

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