Project INSPIRE
Project INSPIRE, HBCU Undergraduate Collaborative Summer Training Program to Inspire Students in Prostate Cancer Research:
Project INSPIRE (Interest, Need, Stimulate, Persevere, Ideas, Relevance, Excellence) is a summer training program funded by the Department of Defense, U.S. Army to provide experience and training in basic, biomedical, clinical and/or population sciences research in prostate cancer for promising undergraduate students enrolled at Florida A& M University, a historically black college/university in the state of Florida. It creates an enriching environment in which young students who are at an important career-decision-making point, are inspired and mentored by researchers with an established record of achievement in prostate cancer research.
The ultimate goal of this program is to increase the number of young scientists from historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and create a cadre of culturally sensitive, well-trained scientists to improve research and contribute to reducing this disproportionate burden of prostate cancer incidence and mortality in African-American men. Four undergraduate students each year are selected from FAMU and matched with four research scientists working in prostate cancer research at Moffitt Cancer Center for a 12-week period in the summer, residing on the campus of the University of South Florida. The internship concludes with a written scientific report and an oral presentation of the accomplished work on Research Day. The first year of the program was completed with four student from FAMU successfully completing the summer internship program at Moffitt Cancer Center in 2006. For more information about this summer internship program, please contact Nagi Kumar, Ph.D., R.D., FADA, Program Director of Project INSPIRE, at 813-745-6885.