Minority scholars are significantly underrepresented in the field of science, including areas related to drug abuse research. NIH has recognized that increasing the number of top quality minority scientists is integral to our future and there have been specific initiatives to increase the number of well-trained minority faculty in science. One particularly successful effort has been the early nurturing of the careers of minority undergraduate and graduate students who then become the successful scientists of the future. Hunter College has been part of this effort. Hunter is unique because it is a large and long existing urban university with a history of educating populations whose access to higher education has been historically limited. We were a women’s college in the latter part of the 1800’s and the first half of this century when education women was of questionable merit, and more recently as a coeducational institution committed to educating students from underrepresented populations. Our record has been outstanding for both. For example, we are the only institution in the world from which two women Nobel Laureates earned their undergraduate degree (Rosalind Yalow, Nobel Laureate 1978 and Gertrude Elion, Nobel Laureate 1988). More recently we have provided excellent training to minority students in both biological and social sciences. Our success in due to the quality and dedication of our students and out faculty, and because as an institution we are committed to educating to these students. Our ability to provide top notch training has been recognized by NIH through ongoing programs such as Career Opportunity in Research (COR), Minority Biomedical Research Support (MBRS), Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC), and the Center for the Study of Gene Structure and Function, funded by the Research Centers in Minority Institutions Program (RCMI). We have the potential, capability, and leadership to enhance our unique position in American higher education as a major minority research institution.

Our interest in the MIDARP program emerged from the natural intersection of current faculty research initiatives, and the desire of other faculty and students to enter the field of drug abuse research. The development of MIDARP at Hunter College arises from academic and scientific strengths. At the present we have a solid nucleus of active life science research including biophysics, biochemistry, molecular biology, neurobiology, and psychology. The research productivity oh Hunter’s faculty in the Social and Biological Sciences is high, and has been strengthened by a revitalization of the infrastructure of the Department of Biology with the strong RCMI program. We expect the MIDARP program likewise to revitalize drug abuse research at Hunter and to provide the infrastructural support needed to mount a research and training effort in this area. The institution is committed to hiring and supporting minority faculty in areas of research supported by NIDA, and indeed, two of the three scientists participating in this MIDARP application are from underrepresented populations.

This program therefore, draws on existing strengths and focuses our efforts in the area of drug abuse research. This program was established within our existing faculty in the Department of Psychology and the Department of Biology. Its creation enabled us to develop as a unit in which technical and intellectual interactions transcend departmental and disciplinary lines. It includes senior faculty (Barr, Luine), and more junior faculty whose interests are in drug abuse research (Angulo, Quiñones). Further, these faculties have a history of collaboration.

We identified a set of specific initiatives to be accomplished in five years. These were chosen as initial steps, building carefully on present research strengths with the plan for making significant progress in the development of a comprehensive research and training program aimed at enhancing the research infrastructure here at Hunter College.