This is an application for the (10) week Summer Residency Research Enhancement Support Program (FRESP) from Talladega College. Dr. Leonard S. Cole is the nominee for the Extramural Associateship (EA). He is a Professor of Biology and Project Manager of Talladega's National Science Foundation Historical Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Project as well as Principal Investigator of a NASA collaborative project with Clark Atlanta University and the Alabama Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Project. He has served as Acting Dean, Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics as well as Chairman of the Biology Department. The goal of this application is to enable him to spend time at NIH to acquire information and experience available on funding and faculty and student research opportunities. His experience as an EA will provide essential skills to assist other faculty in preparing and submitting competitive research proposals. Talladega College founded in 1867, is a private historically black, liberal arts institution. It has 18 full-time mathematics and science faculty. Fifty-six percent (56%) of whom hold doctoral degrees. Degrees are offered in five disciplines, including Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Mathematics and Physics. There are dual degree programs in engineering with the University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC and Auburn University, Auburn, AL. Although (56%) of the math and science faculty hold doctoral degrees, currently, there are no faculty conducting research projects. Participation in the Extramural Associate Research Development Program will equip Dr. Cole with the expertise to hold regular proposal development workshops, advise faculty of funding sources and hold work peer reviews of proposals developed by science and math faculty. The objective is to (a) increase the number of faculty by 2% each year who prepare proposals for funding until at least 10% of the faculty are involved in funded research, publishing in refree journals; (b) involve more student participation in research and publishing by a minimum of 5%; (c) establish more collaborative research with institutions such as Savannah State University, University of Alabama at Birmingham and Meharry Medical School.
