U-RISE@NSU: Developing Support to Create Successful STEM Undergraduates

Peter Gannett, Ph.D., Professor and Associate Dean of Research for the Barry and Judy Silverman College of Pharmacy, along with Co-PIs from the NSU College of Dental Medicine and Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine received a $1.5 million NIH Undergraduate Research Training Initiative for Student Enhancement (U-RISE) grant to develop programming to train undergraduates with the skills to be successful in biomedical research-focused higher degree programs.

 

Tell me briefly about your recent grant-funded project.

The Undergraduate Research Training Initiative for Student Enhancement (U-RISE) is a grant-funded training program sponsored by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences and National Institutes of Health (NIGMS/NIH). The U-RISE Program at NSU (U-RISE@NSU) seeks to develop a diverse pool of well-trained undergraduates who complete their baccalaureate degree with skills to successfully transition into and complete a biomedical research-focused higher degree program (e.g., Ph.D. or M.D./ Ph.D.). As a preeminent undergraduate research opportunity, this program supports full-time juniors and seniors who intend to pursue a Ph.D. The program is not intended to support students who plan to pursue only an MD/OD or other professional degree.

While there are many U-RISE programs in the US, what is unique about the U-RISE at Nova Southeastern University program is that it focuses on collaborative and interdisciplinary approaches to treat chronic diseases and develops undergraduate students intending to pursue graduate training in STEM disciplines related to the Biomedical Sciences or Health. The program requires a two-year commitment. Students are engaged in research year-round and, in addition, receive supporting didactic training and career development. Tuition and stipend support is provided and at a level of nearly $30,000 per year.

 

Who is working with you on this project? 

There are four additional faculty participating in this grant award as Co-Is. These are Toshihisa Kawai, PhD, DDS, Chair and Professor, NSU College of Dental Medicine, Dmitriy Minond, PhD, Associate Professor, NSU College of Pharmacy, Lubov Nathanson, PhD, Associate Professor, NSU Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine, and Silva Rabionet, EdD, Professor and Chair Department of Sociobehavioral and Administrative Pharmacy, NSU College of Pharmacy. They are each responsible for a key pillar of the grant. The pillars are research, supporting curriculum, the summer research program, and career development. In addition, collaboration and interdisciplinary research is a key element of the program and is represented in the leadership.

 

What opportunities and/or benefits does this grant bring to the NSU community (students, faculty, key stakeholders, etc.)?

In 2022, we surveyed undergraduate students at NSU asking them what they wanted to be improved at NSU. Rising to the top was the need for increased undergraduate research opportunities and career advising/mentoring. These components correspond to the key components of the grant and will provide students with two years of intensive research training in an NSU faculty member’s lab, coupled with a summer research experience at an R-1 research intensive university and a range of career development experiences designed to facilitate their success in biomedical science careers. The program also provides the student trainees significant financial support.

Faculty will also benefit from this grant. Of course, the most direct benefits will be to the students and the research that the students conduct. The faculty mentors will benefit from the research produced by each student. In addition, the overall proposal is interdisciplinary and collaborative. The mentors, in addition to working with the students, will work with other faculty mentors, providing additional research collaboration opportunities.

NSU will benefit from this program. First, NIH training programs, such as the U-RISE program are prestigious. The opportunity provided by the training program can be used to recruit high quality undergraduate students to NSU. Further, the program will provide additional research experiences for undergraduate students, which has been identified as a need by NSU undergraduate students. Finally, as part of the ‘Summer Research Experience’ component of the U-RISE@NSU program, students will conduct research at an external research site (R-1 university). This will increase the exposure of NSU and its research activities to other colleges and universities, creating opportunities for collaborations with external institutions.

 

How does this project connect with your other work at NSU?

As Associate Dean for Research in the College of Pharmacy, it is my goal to increase the research productivity of the College. The U-RISE grant offers many possibilities to achieve this goal. It brings addition people to work in the labs, increases collaboration possibilities for the College’s faculty with other NSU faculty outside of the College of Pharmacy, and with researchers at other institutions. The U-RISE program may also help to leverage other funding for other training programs such as summer undergraduate research programs and R15 grants.

On a more personal note, I have been involved in running other training programs prior to coming to NSU, though mainly at the graduate level. I find working with young scientists, as they pursue their careers in the STEM disciplines working toward becoming the next generation of scientists, to be a very satisfying experience.

 

How has NSU helped you pursue and/or achieve personal and professional goals you have set for yourself? NSU resources used?

I worked at West Virginia University (WVU), in the Pharmaceutical Sciences Department, School of Pharmacy, prior to coming to NSU. During my tenure at WVU, the department and school grew considerably from being mainly a teaching unit to making significant contributions to research.  I felt that the NSU College of Pharmacy was just beginning to make the same journey and is becoming extensively engaged in research. As the Associate Dean for Research, I am working to help the College develop its research enterprise. The College has seen a significant increase in its research activity – active researchers, funding, dissemination of scientific knowledge – so I believe I am having an impact.  Fortunately, it has been during this time that NSU has become more research-focused and has developed a strong infrastructure (e.g., The Division of Research & Economic Development – DoR) and first-rate facilities to support research (Center for Collaborative Research – CCR).

 

What advice do you have for other grant seekers at NSU?

(Where to begin…).  I have a lot of advice; grant writing is really a very complicated process. My top piece of advice is to start well in advance of the deadline. The best funded people I know tell me that they start writing a proposal 6-12 months in advance of the deadline. The next important point is to develop a specific aims page around your idea – the specific aims page is your whole grant on one page. Share this page with others that have relevant expertise and those that are not as close. Get their input and revise the page accordingly. This is the most difficult page to write, though it is the most important. It is the page a reviewer is going to read first and if it is done well, the reviewer will likely be more favorable. The rest of your grant will be easier to write, too, as all you need to do is expand on this page in the subsequent sections.

Once you write a draft, have others read it and provide comments. Address these comments, especially the negative ones. Your friends will be kinder than the reviews from the study sections. Do not leave anything ‘murky’ or ignore weaknesses. Reviewers will notice weaknesses and if they are on the fence regarding your proposal, weaknesses will be likely result in no funding.

Make it easy to read and understand your proposal. Absolutely follow the instructions, rigorously. Understand that the reviewers are going to be asked to comment on certain aspects of your proposal and you should make it easy to find this information. For example, they will be asked to comment on the significance of the proposal. To help the reviewer out, write ‘The significance of this proposal is…’.  Careful use of figures can be really helpful as they break up the text some and help to make major points but don’t overdo this and jam a lot of figures/tables in. Formatting with headers, etc., in a logical and consistent way is also helpful to the reviewer. When you are done, your proposal should have a clean look to it.

Work to get yourself on a grant review panel. It is of enormous value to see how reviewers review grants. It is eye-opening when you discover that the grant that you spent months on writing, is only discussed for 10 min and the fate of funding decided. Worse, while 2-3 reviewers may make comments, it is the first reviewer that is going to make or break the funding decision.

Finally, most grants are not funded upon the first submission. NIH success rates are not in your favor. However, resubmissions to NIH do much better. When you receive reviewer comments, consider them carefully and if no fatal flaws exist, revise the proposal and resubmit. And, if you don’t get funded on this round, keep trying.

 

What is the next grant proposal or project on your agenda?

I am looking at writing other training grants. In particular, NIH offers several funding mechanisms to support undergraduate training during the summer. These fall under the umbrella of Summer Internship Program in Biomedical Research (SIP) and such as the College Summer Opportunities to Advance Research (C-SOAR) program. The reason for this is that the C-SOAR program is similar to the U-RISE program, except it is focused on supporting undergraduate research during the summer months. At the same time, many of the C-SOAR application requirements, materials, and research infrastructure needed for the C-SOAR program are the same as for the U-RISE program. So, it may be possible to leverage the U-RISE program to write a strong C-SOAR grant and with less effort.