Biomedical research infrastructure through establishing biomedical research programs in health and health disparities that are critical to the area. Four major cores are highlighted: research infrastructure and capacity building, strengthening faculty research and training, shared resources, and an administration. The cores synergistically build together to meet three overall objectives: 1. building the research capacity and capabilities for faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students, while emphasizing structured training, mentoring, and research partnerships with experienced biomedical research institutions in the area, 2. promoting and expanding specific biomedical research projects in health and health disparity issues in California's Central Valley through increasing collaborations between Fresno State faculty and faculty at research institutions in the area, and 3. enhancing research infrastructure facilities at Fresno State in the areas of proteomics and molecular and functional imaging to support and extend biomedical research activities in the Central Valley. The first and second objectives will be accomplished through further development of mentoring and collaborating relationships Fresno State faculty have already established with major biomedical research institutions in the area. The six faculty participants, drawn from the Departments of Chemistry, Biology, and Psychology, will carry out three collaborative subprojects in health related topics that are of particular importance to underserved populations in the Central Valley of California. The third objective, improvement of research infrastructure facilities, will be accomplished by renovating space to build two new laboratories. The proteomics/functional genomics laboratory and the molecular and functional imaging laboratory are being developed along with necessary informational management and biostatistics support. These research facilities critical for successful completion of the pilot projects, have strong institutional support in the way of matching funds, and will provide students and faculty with the resources and training necessary to develop productive careers in biomedical research. The university is currently focused on hiring talented new faculty, including faculty from groups traditionally underrepresented in the sciences, and the improvement of research infrastructure facilities is designed to further enhance our progress in this area. These new facilities will significantly add to the research capacity for several faculty members in the College of Science and Mathematics. The Fresno State RIMI program will be directed and administered by an office consisting of the PI (Provost), two Program co-Directors, one with emphasis on biomedical research and another with emphasis on behavioral science and a Program Manager (100%). The PI, PDs and the Core-leaders will work with an advisory committee of experts (4 from Fresno State and 6 from collaborating institutions) to provide strong leadership and assure that the program stays on course, meets research goals, and fulfills the needs of research faculty and collaborating mentors as provided by the program. Moreover, the PDs and Core-leaders have common research interests and personal research involvements in the planned activities. This will add considerable strength to their leadership, significantly increasing positive outcomes. Formative and summative evaluation of the program performance will be analyzed by the included evaluation plan. The Fresno State-RIMI program will offer a great opportunity for expediting Fresno State's institutional goal of becoming a premier campus in research and research training among comprehensive universities, and a model minority institution for addressing health and health-related disparity issues in California's Central Valley.
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