In 2000, Emory University partnered with a consortium of Atlanta historically Black colleges and universities called the Atlanta University Center (AUC) to form our IRACDA program (Fellowships In Research and Science Teaching or FIRST). This partnership between Emory University, a research-intensive university, and these Minority Serving Institutions (MSI; Spelman College, Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, and Morehouse School of Medicine) has focused on providing our Scholars with outstanding research experiences at Emory combined with training and immersive experiences in teaching at the AUC schools. Thus, FIRST Scholars develop both their academic research credentials and teaching credentials, both of which will be important in their later academic life. FIRST also supports the AUC as FIRST Scholars develop new courses and laboratory modules as well as mentor undergraduates from underrepresented groups in research projects. With these additional educational opportunities through FIRST, these undergraduates that are women and/or from underrepresented groups are also exposed to enthusiastic, research-oriented teachers and role models ? many of whom are also women and/or from underrepresented groups ? who have been successful in graduate school and postdoctoral academic environments. Our Partner Institutions are also positively impacted as FIRST alumni, former Emory Postdoctoral Fellows, become AUC academic leaders and reinforce dynamic interactions among AUC faculty and Emory. Throughout its history, this program has been highly successful in recruiting and preparing a diverse pool of FIRST Scholars. Overall, 67% of our trainees are in highly competitive research positions and 15% in tenure-track posts at Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs). In this current funding period, FIRST successfully filled six positions each year. A number of those recruited subsequently obtained extramural funding. Of the 82 FIRST Scholars, 76% were women and 62% were from underrepresented groups. These successes reflect our exceptional program. Our programmatic objectives in this competitive renewal are to build on these achievements as follows: 1) Provide Scholars with exemplary research and professional training that promotes their research, career, and leadership development; 2) At the AUC schools, expand evidenced-based teaching and biomedical research opportunities to engage early stage STEM students that are women and/or from underrepresented groups; 3) Increase the number of highly qualified STEM Postdoctoral Fellows from women and/or underrepresented groups entering competitive academic and biomedical careers. Through the FIRST Program, Emory is the only research-intensive institution in Georgia that provides comprehensive training in research and teaching for early career scientists. Continuation of FIRST will allow us to continue training and preparing STEM Postdoctoral Fellows that are sensitive to the MSI culture and, ultimately, will be in a position to serve as life-long guides and role models in academia and other research-related positions. By leveraging this training infrastructure, our goal is to expand the impact of FIRST to non-IRACDA funded Postdoctoral Fellows.
A small fraction of Postdoctoral Fellows conducting research in the life sciences come from groups that are traditionally underrepresented in the STEM fields. An even smaller fraction of these individuals advance to become faculty and principal investigators of NIH research grants. Through a partnership of Atlanta institutions of higher education, Spelman, Morehouse, and Clark Atlanta, we have a unique opportunity to help address these problems and enhance inclusive excellence by providing Postdoctoral Fellows with a traditional research-intensive experience coupled with mentored teaching activities at these Minority Serving Institutions in the Atlanta metropolitan area.
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