During FY 2016, the NIDCR Office of Education (OE) made several accomplishments in enriching the career development experience of our trainees and in improving our recruitment of a diverse training pool. The Director, Dr. Deborah Philp, remains vigilant in the offices mission to enrich the training experience at NIDCR and to recruit talented student and postdoctoral researchers for the institute from all backgrounds. The office has also organized a several career development activities. NIDCR OE hosted a full day workshop titled Management in the Scientific and Academic Environment. This session was lead by Mr. Tim Quigg. The goal of this training session is to help develop skills need to successfully lead a scientific research laboratory. Topics covered in this workshop are: personnel and project management, the art of supervision, and team organization. The OE also co-sponsored an intensive grant-writing workshop with training offices at NHGRI, NICHD, and NIAMS. Four NIDCR trainees were selected to participate in a grant-writing course entitled NIH Grant Writing Course - An In-Depth Workshop. As a part of their participation in this workshop, our trainees participated in a grant mock study section. In addition, the OE sponsored the tenth annual NIDCR Fellows Scientific Training (formerly known as the Fellows Scientific Retreat). Seventy-two graduate students, pre-doctoral IRTAs, Postdoctoral trainees, clinical fellows, staff scientists, biologists, and core facility staff were in attendance for the training along with the DIR Scientific Director, Veterinary Resources Core Director, and Office of Education Staff. Activities at the event included: a keynote address a former DIR trainee, four fifteen-minute oral presentations by attendees, one three-minute-talk/open mic oral presentation, two attendee poster sessions, and two concurrent career development workshops (Networking Stragegies; The Best Ways To utilize LinkedIn and The Unwritten Rules of Applying to Professional School). Dr. Martha Somerman, NIDCR Director, gave a brief presentation and engaged the attendees in a question and answer session and a new DIR investigator showcase was held. The final training activity was a panel discussion on careers after training at NIDCR. Feedback on the event was positive. Attendees found the event topics helpful and expressed an interest in attending next year. The OE provided its annual grant-writing seminar from Grant Writers Seminars and Workshops, LLC. It was co-hosted with NEI, NHGRI, NICHD, and NIAMS. As in previous years, two half-day activities were planned 70 attendees. The morning session was a seminar on the key changes in preparation of NIH Applications. Participants were lead through interactive exercises on how to write and submit successful research grant using the latest NIH guidelines to grant submission. The presenter also discussed possible pitfalls that they may encounter and good draft review strategies. The afternoon session was a smaller workshop on developing the specific aims portion of a grant. NIDCR OE cosponsored the annual NIH Three Minute Talk Science Communication Competition. This event was held on July 16. Thirteen graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and clinical fellows from three institutes competed as finalists in this event: five from NHGRI, five from NICHD, and four from NIDCR. Participants in this competition received professional training how to effectively communicate their scientific research to a broad scientific audience using a single power point slide. They attended two training sessions lead by the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science and had two one-on-one professional coaching sessions in public speaking. Intramural NIDCR continues to focus the recruitment of student researchers from diverse groups for training programs at NIH. In an effort to inform and recruit trainees from all backgrounds, Dr. Philp, represented NIDCR at several research conferences. These conferences include: the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science Conference (SACNAS) and the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS). Dr. Philp, along with Dr. Leslie Friedan (Extramural Training Officer) and Ms. Loretta Grey Cloud (Postbac-IRTA) met with students, professors and researchers who were interested in research opportunities at NIDCR and disseminated training and research opportunity materials at SACNAS. In addition, Dr. Philp accompanied over 90 attendees from the conference on tours of the NIH. Dr. Philp also in small group discussions on intramural training opportunities at NIH. Dr. Philp attended the ABRCMS conference, along with Dr. Lynn King (Research Training and Career Development Branch Chief). They met with students, professors and researchers who were interested in research opportunities at NIDCR and disseminated training and research opportunity materials. In addition, Dr. Philp participated in smaller round table group meetings on career paths with attendees. She spoke with the audience about the research experience at NIDCR and NIH. Dr. Philp represented NIDCR at an undergraduate training recruitment session held at Howard University. Several NIH institutes were in attendance for this event along with Uniformed Health Services and the Navy. She met with students and postdoctoral trainees. Dr. Philp was invited to give a brief presentation about intramural training opportunities at the first annual Howard University College of Dentistry Research Day and Symposium. Participants in this event presented posters and gave oral presentation about their research. The OE hosted a visit from trainees participating in the ADA Dental Student Research Conference. As a part of their half-day visit to NIDCR, these 60 attendees participated in a panel discussion with DIR staff and trainees and heard brief presentations from the National Dental Practice-Based Research Network, the NIDCR Dental Public Health Residency Program, and a clinical fellow research presentation. The group also toured the NIDCR Dental Clinic and attended poster presentations by two postdoctoral fellows. In an effort to continue exposing potential trainees to the resources available at NIDCR, Dr. Philp attended the AADR conference. She participated in a group presentation on Intramural research training opportunities and a networking breakfast session with NIDCR-funded attendees. She was also available for appointments at the NIDCR exhibit booth with any attendees that were interested in learning more about training programs at NIDCR. Training program outreach recruitment efforts of the OE are reflected in the diverse student population in our summer research program. This year, NIDCR hosted twenty-eight high school, undergraduate, dental and medical students as NIH Summer Interns. Nine of these students were NIDCR Summer Dental Student Award (SDSA) recipients. The OE provided summer internship opportunities for two outstanding students from underrepresented groups in biomedical research as a part of this group. These students pursued internships at NIH as a direct result of either meeting Dr. Philp at a minority student conference or discussing training opportunities with other recruiting staff from NIH at different venues. In addition to the many activities lead by the OE Dr. Philp was a member of the planning and selection committees for the NIH High School Scientific Training and Enrichment Program (HISTEP). High school students from financially disadvantaged backgrounds interested in STEM-M (science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medically-related) fields participated in a five-week summer program to explore scientific research and current topics in human health disparities.
