IRACDA at Stony Brook University

PROJECT SUMMARY
IRACDA at Stony Brook University: The New York Consortium for the Advancement of Postdoctoral
Scholars – Phase III
The IRACDA at Stony Brook University: New York Consortium for the Advancement of Postdoctoral
Scholars (NY-CAPS) program is a partnership among five higher education institutions in New York to address
the national need for greater diversity among tenure-track faculty in the biomedical sciences. Our postdoctoral
scholars experience comprehensive and balanced training in research, teaching and professional development
to pursue highly productive academic careers as scientist and teachers. Our innovative, blended training model
exploits over 20+ years of collaborations between a research-intensive institution (Stony Brook University, SBU),
a comprehensive institution (The City University of New York Brooklyn College), a primarily undergraduate
institution (The State University of New York Old Westbury), a technical institution (Farmingdale State College)
and a community college (Suffolk County Community College). The considerable strengths of each institution
are leveraged to provide mentored research and pedagogic training and exposure to a diverse range of higher
education institutions at which scholars may ultimately pursue academic careers. NY-CAPS is responsible for
doubling (7.6% to 15%) the racial/ethnic diversity of the domestic postdoctoral population at SBU, and 65% of
former NY-CAPS Scholars currently hold a tenured or tenure-track faculty position compared to 22% of
postdoctoral trainees who did not participate in our program. The impact on URM scholars is even more dramatic.
NY-CAPS supports Scholars for three years and provides rigorous research and pedagogy training,
seminar series on resilience, wellness and fostering inclusive research environments, training in science
communication, professional skills training and mentoring workshops for Scholars and research mentors. The
program will be led by a team that combines a highly accomplished national leader in biomedical research and
recipient of the Presidential Award for Promoting Diversity and Academic Excellence, an accomplished
biomedical scientist with extensive experience in curriculum development, and a nationally recognized leader in
STEM diversity. The program will take advantage of mentoring teams composed of research, professional and
teaching mentors as well as a program alumna. These teams will monitor the progress of scholars and provide
guidance and feedback. NY-CAPS expects to fund four Scholars per year. Owing to strong institutional support,
two additional Scholars will be appointed to our Associates Program annually and be able to take advantage of
the NY-CAPS career development opportunities.

Grant Number: 5K12GM102778-14
NIH Institute/Center: NIH
Principal Investigator: Carol Carter