Pipelines into Quantitative Aging Research

Project Summary
It is well documented that a diverse workforce has the potential to reduce racial and ethnic disparities, which
have strong effects in aging populations1-3. As the percentage of racial and ethnic minorities in the U.S.
population increases, including among the aged population, the public health workforce should reflect this
diversity1,4,5. With an increase in undergraduate public health majors across the country6,7, due in part to
heightened excitement and opportunities in data science and quantitative big data analysis, and with
breakthroughs in the science of aging on the horizon, this is an opportune moment to develop strong pipeline
programs for underrepresented minority (URM) undergraduates. We will target URM undergraduates who
have quantitative and computational interests and expose them to opportunities for graduate study and
research careers, and the possibilities and excitement of marrying their quantitative interests with substantive
research in aging. Introducing undergraduates, who are more diverse in public health majors than other
majors7, and than graduate students6, to careers in public health, holds much promise for increasing the
diversity of graduate students and faculty in the field, which has increased very little in the past 20 years6. This
holds for the MSTEM subfields of public health, such as Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Data Science, as well.
Motivated by these factors, and in response to NIA Funding Opportunity (PAR-17-290), “MSTEM: Advancing
Diversity in Aging Research through Undergraduate Education (R25),” we propose an intensive, six-week
summer program for 12 undergraduates from underrepresented backgrounds with interests in Biostatistics,
Epidemiology, Data Science and other quantitative methods to learn about the applications of these methods
in aging research. The summer program includes formal instruction, a broad lecture series, mentored research
projects, oral research presentation at an annual symposium, career and professional development sessions,
site visits to labs and other research settings, group and informal mentoring, social activities and network
building, and training in responsible conduct of research. To reinforce the intensive summer experience, we
will continue to offer group and individual mentoring and research experiences into the following academic
years. Additionally, we will offer a select group of summer program participants the opportunity to return to
NYU during the January term for an extended research experience and a quantitative course. With the
guidance of a professional evaluator and internal and external advisory committees, we will evaluate all
aspects of our program and review results in real-time to enable constant adjustment and improvement.
Our proposal addresses three critical needs to strengthen and galvanize the research enterprise in the field of
aging: increased engagement of MSTEM experts, increased engagement of URM researchers, and increased
attention to disparities. We believe that our intensive and long-term programmatic components will support the
entry of talented URM students into successful careers in MSTEM research in aging.

Grant Number: 5R25AG067931-05
NIH Institute/Center: NIH
Principal Investigator: REBECCA BETENSKY