# Seeding Postdoctoral Innovators in Research and Education (SPIRE)

> **NIH NIH K12** · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · 2020 · $1,335,188

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
SPIRE (Seeding Postdoctoral Innovators in Research and Education) is a postdoctoral research and career
development training program built as a partnership between UNC/Chapel Hill and four partner institutions in
North Carolina, each of which has an historical mission to educate students from backgrounds
underrepresented in the biomedical research enterprise. Through this partnership, the SPIRE program
prepares scholars with the research and teaching skills to inspire students from underrepresented groups to
pursue science careers. The current proposal maintains many successful components introduced over
SPIRE’s 17-year history and adds several innovations to benefit the partner institutions and the scholars‘
preparation for academic careers. Throughout its history, SPIRE scholars have received training in research-
based, student-centered approaches in science education. The current proposal expands upon these
approaches by providing scholars with formalized training in Classroom-based Undergraduate Research
Experiences (CUREs). Moreover, in order to increase the number of students from our partner institutions
who can benefit from one-on-one research interactions and to provide additional mentoring experience for the
scholars, we propose to increase the number of undergraduates from our partners that can take advantage of
the very effective SPIRE Summer Research Program, piloted during the current grant cycle. In order to
broaden exposure to research disciplines at partner institutions and promote potential collaborations, we
propose to launch a Traveling Research Symposium, which will take place each year at one of our partner
institutions. As the SPIRE program enhances the effectiveness of science education at its partner institutions
through the initiatives described above, we will also insure that the scholars obtain high quality training
within research laboratories at UNC/Chapel Hill by matching scholars with productive scientists whose
training records continue to reveal their commitment to mentorship. Taken together, by providing scholars with
cutting-edge training in research, teaching and professional development, the SPIRE program strives to
continue its record of training scholars who attain academic positions and continue to advance science
education.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9997944
- **Project number:** 5K12GM000678-22
- **Recipient organization:** UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL
- **Principal Investigator:** DONALD T LYSLE
- **Activity code:** K12 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $1,335,188
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1999-08-01 → 2022-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9997944

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9997944, Seeding Postdoctoral Innovators in Research and Education (SPIRE) (5K12GM000678-22). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9997944. Licensed CC0.

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