IRACDA at UCLA

ABSTRACT
Our goal is to continue a career-development program at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) termed
IRACDA at UCLA, for transitioning diverse postdoctoral scholars into university-level academic positions. This
interdisciplinary program will train new Ph.D. level scholars in research through UCLA's high-quality, discipline-
specific programs, and in career development through stage-specific workshops. In parallel, scholars will be
trained in inclusive, active learning pedagogy, and assessment by UCLA's “Center for Education Innovation and
Learning in the Sciences” (CEILS), the national "Center for Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning"
(CIRTL), and UCLA's Summer Institute (SI). An accompanying two-stage mentored teaching experience, termed
practicums 1 and 2, will occur at our partner institution, California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA),
which comprises >70% URMs in STEM majors. Our scholars will teach introductory and advanced biology, and
biochemistry courses with their mentors, while introducing novel pedagogical approaches based on CIRTL's
Teaching as Research (TAR) core mission. The scholars will also team-teach their own course, BIOL4540, which
will train Cal State LA undergraduates to read, present and critique the primary literature. UCLA's Center for
Educational Assessment (CEA) will formatively evaluate the program annually. CEA along with assessment
performed at Cal State LA, will improve the scholars' teaching skills, and course content, benefiting our partner
institution. A steady state of nine IRACDA-funded scholars are necessary to form an effective cohort and learning
community to impact Cal State LA's courses.
UCLA's research training faculty includes fifty-two outstanding scientists chosen for their diversity, and
their records of leadership, scholarship, and mentoring. The training faculty cover a breadth of NIGMS-relevant
research topics and participate in outstanding science that will allow scholars to obtain advanced research
training using state of the art facilities. Recent Ph.Ds. with excellent research credentials and a commitment to
teaching will be actively recruited. Stipend support in the first year of research will be from the research mentors,
while the following three years will be from IRACDA. After a year of intense research, teaching will be interwoven
into the program. A key aspect of the mentored teaching experience will be development of a TAR project during
a limited practicum 1, where the scholars shadow their teaching mentor and teach four lectures. The TAR project
will be refined in UCLA's SI between the scholars' first and second years of IRACDA funding, and implemented
during Practicum 2, where the scholars will teach half of the mentors' classes. The last IRACDA-funded year will
focus on research, paper-writing, job preparation, and completing requirements for CIRTL Scholar-level
certification. The broad-based administrative support for IRACDA at UCLA assures a commitment at UCLA
and Cal State LA to the development of a new generation of highly effective faculty trained in pedagogy that
enhances URM retention in the major, and transition to both graduate schools and the workforce.

Grant Number: 5K12GM106996-10
NIH Institute/Center: NIH
Principal Investigator: MICHAEL CAREY