# Environmental Health Sciences: Transformational Research Undergraduate Experience (E-H-TRUE)

> **NIH NIH R25** · UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA · 2024 · $108,000

## Abstract

PROJECT ABSTRACT
Environmental Health: Transformative Research Undergraduate Experiences (E-H-TRUE) research
education program at the University of Arizona (UA) seeks to recruit, educate and retain 5 undergraduate
students every year who are underrepresented in environmental health sciences over five-year period. UA
has a long record of accomplishment to train and retain under-representative students: more than 40% new
freshman students from under-representative groups, raking #1 in PhDs earned by Naïve American
students and #8 in the number of PhDs earned by Hispanic/Latino students. UA has received status as
an American Indian/Alaska Native and a Hispanic Serving Institution. In E-H-TRUE, we bring together two
preeminent programs: the UA Center for Toxicology and the UA Undergraduate Research Program (UBRP)
to provide the top-notch research training in environmental health sciences. On the research side, the UA
Center for Toxicology, one of leading toxicology research and training centers in the world, is home to the
NIEHS-funded Southwest Environmental Health Sciences Center (SWEHSC) and the UA Superfund
Research Program. On the undergraduate education side, UBRP has served as a model for high-quality
undergraduate research training for more than 30 years. Through established networks by UBRP, we will
initiate early contact with freshman/sophomore undergraduates to identify talented undergraduate
candidates from under-representative groups who are interested in environmental health science
research. The well-designed educational component of E-H-TRUE will include a specifically designed
course work in environmental health sciences to expose students to toxicology, immunology,
epidemiology and government regulation. Program participants will receive hand-on training in research
laboratories. Students will work with their mentors and laboratory collaborators to learn how to review
literature, generate hypothesis, design step-by-step experimentation to test hypothesis, document
results, and deliver presentable data by due dates. The program will emphasize collaboration and near-
peer mentoring by capitalizing on the recently renewed NIEHS T32 training program (continuously funded for
40 years). The E-H-TRUE program will also facilitate community outreach activities in environmental health
science through the established outreach core in SWEHSC. Finally, we have implemented a
rigorous evaluation plan to measure the success and impact of the program. The main goal of the program is
to provide students with research experiences and encourage them pursuing Ph.D. or professional degrees
to be active in environmental science research.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10828337
- **Project number:** 5R25ES025494-10
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
- **Principal Investigator:** Yin Chen
- **Activity code:** R25 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $108,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2015-04-02 → 2025-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10828337

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10828337, Environmental Health Sciences: Transformational Research Undergraduate Experience (E-H-TRUE) (5R25ES025494-10). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10828337. Licensed CC0.

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