Faculty Research and Education Development Program II

Over the past 40-years, there has been an expansion in our understanding of the world through a scientific lens; however, there is a recognition that we are not fully engaging our scientific talent pool. The Faculty Research and Educational Development (FRED) Program seeks to broaden participation through mentored relationships for postdoctoral scholars and junior faculty members, many of whom are from groups historically and currently underrepresented in the sciences.

In addition, given the impact that minority-serving institutions (MSIs) have on broadening participation in the sciences, the FRED program also encourages the participation of faculty members at MSIs. FRED was developed by the Minorities Affairs Committee (MAC), a standing committee of the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) tasked with addressing issues of historically underrepresented cell biologists.

Specifically, the FRED program matches junior scientists with senior mentors who have demonstrated funding success at research-intensive institutions for a long-term mentoring relationship focused on the preparation and submission of a research or educational grant to an external funding agency. Over the past 7-years, 46 historically underrepresented scholars or junior faculty at minority-serving institutions (MSIs) have participated in the FRED Program with a funding success rate of 62% and 27% of them receiving more than one award.

The FRED program is organized with participants attending a Career Development Workshop, participating in a mentored relationship to prepare a proposal, and a Mock Review Panel at the annual ASCB conference to review the proposal and provide the mentee comments before submission to a funding agency. The FRED-II program will continue with the mission of improving grant funding success and career development for junior faculty and will implement improved support pathways for FRED mentees who are not successful in their first proposal submission and will look to resubmit their proposal.

It will continue with the successful implementation of a summer workshop to be held primarily near or at MSIs. In addition, in alignment with national imperatives in increasing diversity among faculty, the program will create a pre-FRED workshop designed to engage potential FRED mentees to develop an applicant pool for future FRED workshops. The FRED-II program will continue to support and develop the next generation of research scientists and leaders and broaden their participation in science.

The FRED-II program will support junior faculty and postdoctoral scholars through a structured mentored relationship with a senior faculty member. The year-long program will include a summer career development workshop for all FRED mentees, monthly mentor-mentee meetings with in-person reciprocal visits to mentor-mentees campuses. FRED mentees will develop a proposal with support from their selected mentor and participate in a winter mock review panel hosted at the annual ASCB meeting.

Meetings and reciprocal visits will continue until a proposal is submitted to a federal agency. FRED-II will also include continued participation and additional support for FRED mentees who are unsuccessful in securing funding on their first attempt. The FRED-II program will also include evaluative efforts to inform the leadership of the effectiveness of the program and areas where improvements are needed.

Overall, the FRED-II program promotes the careers of underrepresented junior faculty and postdoctoral scholars at research institutions and MSIs through mentorship and grant success.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.