The Research Mentoring Core is one of two proposed Research Cores. This Core will promote research excellence by (i) increasing faculty participation at the Primarily Undergraduate Institutions (PUIs), (ii) providing faculty development opportunities, (iii) mentoring, (iv) setting clear attainable expectations as milestones to success, (v) supporting graduate and professional students and postdoctoral fellows, (vi) and increasing biomedical research opportunities across the Idaho Network, among the Western IDeA region, and in clinical translational programs (through CTSAs and IDeA CTRs). The Core Director also serves as the INBRE Program Coordinator and is highly qualified at managing biomedical research programs and has much experience in guiding junior investigators to success. Under his direction, and in collaboration with the EAC and the Research Mentoring Committee, this Core will implement and monitor the mentoring for all participants as designed and outlined by the Administrative Core. Faculty will participate in research at two different levels as (i) Project Investigators (PI) with >50% effort in research and a funded and mentored Developmental Research Project or as (ii) Student Research Mentors with varying % effort in research and a focus on student training: This Core will implement the Developmental Research Project Program with a process to select the most meritorious proposals under the multidisciplinary research theme of "Cell Signaling". The plan (detailed in its own section of the proposal) will foster collaborative projects between Pis at the PUIs and Scientific Mentors at the research-intensive institutions. For both levels of faculty research participation, clear and attainable milestone/productivity standards will be set and tailored to the investigator's level of participation. An annual "non-competing renewal" will be required and reviewed to determine continued funding. Research development initiatives open to faculty across Idaho will include seed grants, new instrumentation, teaching release, seminars, mini-sabbaticals, new faculty recruitment, and mentoring programs. Many training opportunities will be in place and will cover subjects like manuscript preparation, grant writing, budget preparation; compliance training (for human subjects, research animals, and biosafety), and responsible research conduct. This Core will oversee postdoctoral fellowship funding and facilitate graduate education. Finally, the Western IDeA region will cooperate to leverage our collective research know-how. We will collaborate to tap regional experts who are willing to contribute to scientific mentoring and thereby increase each state's capacity to provide proficiency in a given area.

The INBRE Research Mentoring Core will increase Idaho's research competitiveness and improve the quality of the research experience for graduate and postdoctoral students. It will provide the most critical, and often the most difficult, piece in fostering the success ofearly stage investigators: effective and consisting mentoring. In addition, this Core will provide initiatives to build effective research environments at the diverse Idaho INBRE institutions so that programs will be sustainable and promote research excellence.