The Predoctoral Training Program in Genetics in Iowa has a 25-year history during which 65 students have graduated with a Ph.D. The program currently serves 55 faculty and 44 students and has been a flagship graduate program in the Biosciences initiative efforts on our campus. Since the time of the last competitive submission of this application our faculty has grown by 12 with the number of entering students increasing from an average of 6 per year to now 9. We have an enviable record of student retention, on-time graduation rates, publications and awards and career advancement to postdoctoral fellowships and faculty positions at research-intensive universities. Of particular note is the central role that our program has played in building graduate programs in comparative genomics and bioinformatics on campus and, in particular, by incorporating a computational genetics subtrack option into the Genetics Ph.D. that has already graduated two students into faculty positions. In this renewal application we request a continuation of the six fellowship slots we currently have available to serve our cadre of high quality and productive students. This application will outline our successes over the last 25 years of program existence, our current structure, and plans for future improvements. We have a cohesive group of students working with a broad and diverse collection of faculty who represent the genetics community in all its facets. Finally we have stable program leadership at both the faculty and administrative level and very strong support within the graduate college that helps to ensure not only the continued success of the program but its further strengthening at a time when scientific careers are proving increasingly challenging.
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