DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Brooklyn College of the City University of New York is a large, diverse urban campus with just under 50% minority students. The college has an enrollment of approximately 11,000 undergraduates and approximately 4,500 Master's students. We also participate in doctoral training with highly regarded on-campus doctoral programs in the sciences as part of the Graduate Center of CUNY. The college values teaching and has a strong record of sending a diverse group of students on for research doctorates. Our faculty members mentor several hundred students a year, including many underrepresented minority students, in laboratory-based research. The College has designated 11 biomedical research faculty to take part in this first SCORE project. The project will allow SCORE participants to increase their research capabilities and productivity and to contribute fully to strengthening of the institution's research culture and reputation. The overall goals of the project are: (1) To increase SCORE faculty research productivity by adding to the number of postdoctoral fellows, graduate students and undergraduate students working in SCORE-supported research labs; by increasing the research infrastructure by adding key laboratory equipment, a bioinformatics/modeling facility and replacing an old and unreliable cage washer; and fostering increased collaboration of investigators with both Brooklyn College faculty and with external scientists. (2) To increase research competitiveness of SCORE faculty by increasing the number of referred publications submitted and published, of presentations given at national conferences, and of external grant submissions and awards; by adding new SCORE investigators as supplemental projects in the first year of the project; by bringing a number of prominent scientists to campus to present their work and discuss research issues with SCORE faculty; and by providing faculty development workshops on skills that successful research scientists need to master to be productive and successful as they balance research, teaching, mentoring, publishing, and service to the college community. (3) To increase the number of minority faculty at the College involved in biomedical research by developing a detailed and proactive plan for diversity science hiring efforts in conjunction with our administration, our departmental hiring committees, and an external advisory committee. The College President has agreed to set a target of hiring one minority science faculty member per year for the four years of the SCORE project.