The Neuroscience Colorado Research Experience (N-CORE) - building a sustainable summer training research experience for undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds

PROJECT SUMMARY The Neuroscience Colorado Research Experience (N-CORE) is a summer internship and educational program that gives undergraduate students from historically underrepresented backgrounds (URM) authentic neuroscience research experiences in state-of-the-art biomedical research labs at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical School Campus (CU Anschutz). N-CORE's overarching goal is to cultivate a better understanding of neuroscience and biomedical research, engender scientific enthusiasm, and promote retention in scientific fields. N-CORE accomplishes this through a summer program that combines high- quality mentored research experiences, educational programming, professional development opportunities, and longitudinal mentoring. N-CORE interns receive instruction on core neuroscience concepts, scientific rigor and reproducibility, scientific communication, and professional development. At the end of the summer internship, all interns present their research at a campus-wide Undergraduate Research Symposium. Emphasis will be placed on ensuring an inclusive environment that fosters diversity in education and research and all Program faculty mentors will receive training in mentoring diverse students. After the internship, intern alumni are automatically enrolled in our Pre-doctoral Mentorship Program, where they will receive customized guidance on profession development and career opportunities. N-CORE brings together the expertise, enthusiasm, and institutional support to succeed in its goals. The N-CORE Program Directors bring over a decade of experience in managing a summer research program for URM undergraduate students and have built a strong alliance with the CU Anschutz Neuroscience Graduate Program (NGP), an NIH-supported T32 training program. Critically, N-CORE also brings on-board NGP graduate and MD/PhD students in the leadership and operations of N-CORE. These students will help interns quickly integrate into the CU Anschutz research community. In this proposal, we seek to build on our collective past successes and expertise to create a well-supported, sustainable summer research experience program for URM undergraduate students that will foster a better understanding of neuroscientific biomedical and clinical research and build a community for like-minded individuals interested in continuing along a scientific or medical career path.