In accordance with the national goats of HEALTHY PEOPLE 2000, Project L/EARN targets members of ethnic and cultural groups traditionally under represented in mental health related graduate programs, with the Intent of increasing the number of minority researchers in the mental health field. Project L/EARN is a program of the multi-disciplinary Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research at Rutgers University. This program provides scientific training, experience and guidance to make undergraduate members of under represented groups stronger candidates for admission to relevant graduate programs in mental health research. The summer training component of Project L/EARN consists of a highly-structured twelve-week experience. During the first nine weeks, the program provides six hours of daily instruction in the principles of scientific inquiry including study design, methods of data collection, techniques of data management and statistical analysis, and fundamentals of statistical package programming. Faculty volunteer time to Project L/EARN, providing guest lectures on a broad range of research issues, and serving as mentors. Each intern undertakes an independent research project under the guidance of their faculty mentor, and reading assignments provide a broad foundation in current health and mental health research. The student seminar series provides the opportunity for the interns to present their research projects, demonstrating the integration of the statistical, analytical and substantive issues. Apprenticeships the last month provide an opportunity to contribute to the mentor's research agenda. This proposal includes a request for support to extend the summer training component of this targeted training program to national applicants from under represented groups who are interested in mental health research. Project L/EARN has been extremely successful in integrating its trainees into active research during the academic year and requests funds to support and expand this facet to include additional training/research experiences at other Universities, research facilities and professional conferences.
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