A key to success in the retention of ethnic/racial minority researchers is their nurturing by senior investigators with proven experience in research, grant writing and grants management. This application is submitted on behalf of the Investigator Cores of the NIA Resource Centers on Minority Aging Research (RCMARs) in an effort to support a nation wide discussion of issues related to the recruitment and retention of diverse minority researchers in aging research. Using the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) preconference format, a workshop is proposed for relatively senior investigators with experience in training minority investigators. Senior researchers in the several NIA-sponsored aging centers, including the Edward E. Roybal Centers on Aging, the Claude Pepper Older Americans Independence Centers, the Alzheimer's Disease Centers, the RCMARs, and faculty from other institutions and organizations with an interest in this issue will comprise the audience. The preconference will provide a forum for senior investigators committed to sharing ideas and experiences related to: (a) recruitment of minority researchers into aging research, and (b) the retention and career development of these researchers over the long term for doing productive aging research. After opening remarks focused on the relevant issues, including perspectives from a panel of young minority investigators, the participants will choose one of two workshops in the morning: one on recruitment and the other on retention and career development. In the afternoon they will participate in the workshop they did not attend in the morning. Each workshop will consist of a moderator and two facilitators, both of whom will be senior researchers from the RCMARS, other NIA Centers and the GSA Task Force on Minority Aging with proven successes (and perhaps some failures) in minority investigator mentoring. The workshop program will close with an integrative discussion among all participants. A recorder will take notes of the proceedings of each workshop for development into a GSA brief listing the challenges and likely steps for successful minority recruiting retention and development. In addition, a 3-4 paper symposium will be proposed for publication in The Gerontologist. Further dissemination of the proceedings will be on RCMAR and other appropriate NIA and NIA Center websites.
