Kentucky Biomedical Research Infrastructure Network Evaluation

Kentucky Biomedical Research Infrastructure Network (KBRIN) is a collaborative statewide network of institutions of higher education. The purpose of the network is to enhance the infrastructure, capacity and training in areas relevant to the mission of NIH so that Kentucky institutions can more fully participate in the competition for NIH awards. The University of Louisville (UL) and the University of Kentucky (UK) lead the consortium of 12 Kentucky universities and colleges in KBRIN-related activities. Dr. Ramona Stone oversees the internal Tracking and Evaluation and works closely with the program director, program coordinator, the administrative core staff and the external evaluators to develop and implement KBRIN-specific tracking and evaluation strategies. She makes use of secure server-based Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap) open source software and database system to develop data tracking and survey instruments and to capture electronically the information that we need to study long-term trends. This allows us to evaluate our programs more efficiently and effectively. She has also redesigned the previous hardcopy instruments and data collection forms and made them available in the REDCap system to ensure a systematic and uniform data collection system is in place and appropriate tracking of students, faculty, activities and services is conducted. The focus of tracking and evaluation is to assess the impact on student learning of the mentoring program in biomedical research for undergraduate students at the KBRIN universities.While student outcomes due to KBRIN participation were the main focus of this project thus far, we are now planning to extend the evaluation activities to faculty and infrastructure, as the campus climate has a significant effect on student involvement in research and on student learning.