This proposal is a Collaborative Minority Institution Alcohol Research Development Program (CMIARD) in response to RFA-AA97-006. North Carolina Central University, The Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the School of Public Health at UNC-CH, Center for Developmental Science, and the Research Institute on Addiction in Buffalo will work together with other minority and research intensive institutions to strengthen the alcohol research capacity at predominantly minority institutions by fostering collaborations with experienced researchers. NCCU has a unique and rich opportunity for this collaboration research because of its close proximity to several strong research and alcohol research institutes, i.e. UNC-CH, Duke University, Research Triangle Institute, and Bowman-Gray School of Medicine of Wake Forest. The core of the CMIARD proposal is the establishment of an Alcohol Research initiative at NCCU which would provide administrative, technical and financial support to minority faculty interested in collaborative alcohol related research (biomedical, social, psychological or behavioral). An Internal Advisory Board composed of the leaders at NCCU will promote minority faculty involvement. A significant group of established research investigators at research intensive institutes will explore and develop common interests and potential collaborations with NCCU faculty in workshop/retreats and research seminars organized by the Information Transfer and Faculty Development Core. Grant writing seminars will be used to mentor faculty on grantsmanship. A Statistical Core will provide expertise on statistical needs for proposal development and other research project needs. A Project Advisory Committee of established researchers will provide critical mentoring reviews of collaborative projects submitted to the CMIARD. Funded research projects would require collaboration between a minority faculty member and at least one experienced researcher as well as being expected to result in the submission of an NIH grant after two years of CMIARD funding of preliminary data studies. Three initial projects are proposed for years 1-2, with the expectation that additional projects will be funded for years 2-4 and throughout the entire funding period of this CMIARD. This proposal will introduce and involve NCCU and other minority institute faculty in NIAAA research.
