Participant Support: Interactive Learning Modules for Writing Grant Proposals

The climate surrounding federal funding for biomedical research has become increasingly highly competitive, lending considerable importance to the development of grantsmanship skills by higher education faculty as a whole and by faculty from underrepresented groups in particular. The proposed conference series, Interactive Learning Modules for Writing Grant Proposals, extends a highly focused program of grant-writing training that directly addresses issues of diversity in biomedical research through an active participatory training sequence, resource modules and post-workshop mentored support. The overall objectives are to empower faculty at institutions with a significant enrollment of underrepresented minorities to develop and submit competitive research proposals and to build capacity at minority-serving institutions to support those efforts. We have significantly expanded the original goal of our training partnership with NIGMS, which was to translate an innovative, proven grant-writing workshop into an interactive hypermedia course on the internet for wide dispersal to eligible faculty and research support staff. That project concept has evolved into a highly effective model of direct proposal development training supported by the online course modules. Building on our past experience with faculty, research administrators and students, the competing renewal has the following specific aims: 1) develop and host active-learning style grant-writing retreats for selected faculty poised to submit proposals ranging from developmental/career awards to R01s; 2) update the internet course modules as a resource to facilitate active post-workshop learning by adding new media content developed using the Echo360 active learning technology platform; 3) provide a pipeline to the writing retreat by conducting off-site regional faculty workshops to motivate, mentor and engage prospective faculty in pursuing competitive extramural funding opportunities; and 4) bridge faculty and research administrator cultures through visits to identified minority-serving institutions to address institution-specific issues and needs through training and hands-on mentorship. Through our ongoing scientific and administrative mentoring (via video and/or teleconferencing and webinars), we will sustain a relationship with our participants well beyond the workshops and internet course. Given our past successes, we are confident that the proposed programs will motivate participants and improve the grant-seeking skills and abilities of researchers at minority-serving institutions, increase the number of minorities engaged in biomedical research and thereby strengthen the overall research environment at these campuses.