The percentage of scientists investigating Lung and Blood disease that belong to ethnic minorities is far below their representation in the general population. This is also a self-perpetuating phenomenon, where the lack of role models and supportive mentors produces further declines in the number of minorities seeking advanced degrees in these fields. To address this, there has been a concerted effort to increase the number minorities obtaining advanced degrees in biomedical research. However, these efforts have not been as successful as hoped, mainly because there are simply not enough qualified undergraduate students applying for advanced degrees in these fields. Therefore, the most important method of increasing the number of minorities entering biomedical research as principle investigators is to increase the undergraduate applicant pool for these advanced degrees. Perhaps the best way to increase the undergraduate applicant pool would be to provide minority undergraduate students an exciting and rewarding experience in biomedical research early in their collegiate career, before they have made career decisions. This proposal seeks funds to provide rewarding research experience to minority undergraduate students in New Mexico in a Research Internship Program (RIP). There are three unique advantages to this proposal. First, New Mexico is a minority-majority state, where Hispanics and Native Americans together represent the majority of the population. Second, the University of New Mexico has long established and nationally-recognized research programs in pulmonary and hematologic diseases. Third, the University of New Mexico has a highly successful undergraduate training program to assist minorities entering careers in clinical medicine. A minority student research program here would 1) Recruit ten Hispanic or Native American students per year for 3 months of remunerated research in pulmonary or hematology research, 2) Assist in the presentation of their research at national meetings or in publications, 3) Mentor these students during and after the research program to enhance retention in a research career track, and 4) Assist these students in the application process for graduate degree programs.
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