The present application grows out of a recognition that special programs need to be developed to encourage and facilitate the entrance of young minority scientists into the research effort of the nation. We believe this to be in the public interest. The American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) is concerned about the serious under-representation of young Black and Hispanic scientists in the field of neuropsychopharmacology. We believe that the creation and support of a Travel Award Program providing funding for attendance at the annual scientific meeting of the ACNP would contribute materially in encouraging young minority scientists to enter the field of neuropsychopharmacology. Funds are requested for ten travel stipends a year (plus incidental costs) for five years beginning with the December 1991 Annual Meeting of the ACNP. The College has considerable experience in running such a program, having successfully maintained a young scientist travel award program for the past ten years, in collaboration with Mead Johnson Pharmaceuticals. We recognize that the pool of qualified young minority scientists will be considerably smaller, but are confident that deserving applicants will be forthcoming. We intend to initiate the program with five awardees in December 1990 with College funds as a pilot program to work out optimal methodologies for attracting applicants and making their presence at the Annual Meeting most rewarding. The ACNP membership constitutes the most active and distinguished group of scientists in the United States involved in research in the areas of alcohol, drug abuse, and mental illness over the past quarter century. The principal functions of the college are research and education. The Annual Meeting of the College offers investigators an opportunity for cross-disciplinary communications involving the most recent advances in the field. It provides attendees with an extraordinary opportunity to share in the evolving knowledge in neuropsychopharmacology and to meet the distinguished experts in the field whom they have only been acquainted with through the literature. The usual experience of previous travel awardees has been that they found attendance at the Annual Meeting educational, stimulating, and not infrequently inspirational.
