The Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement (RISE) program at The University of Texas, El Paso, has been awarded a five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) totaling more than $4.2 million , funding student research training initiatives until 2017.

“The NIH is very interested in funding programs that generate future PhDs and academics in biomedical research, and in particular, increasing the number of minorities in this area of research,” said Renato Aguilera, Ph.D., professor and director of the biology graduate program at UTEP and principle investigator for the RISE program grant. “Our program has been very successful in producing future Ph.D.s, some of whom are now enrolled in schools like Princeton, Cal Tech, UC Berkeley and UT Southwestern.”

The RISE program has been funded since 2003 and was recently renewed for a third cycle.   Funding has been provided to support 35 undergraduate scholars and nine doctoral trainees from the colleges of science and engineering to conduct biomedical research. As scholars of the RISE program, undergraduate and graduate students will have the opportunity to work on research projects under the guidance of a faculty mentor while receiving research support.

The goal of the RISE program is to enhance the research experience for students at minority serving institutions while increasing the interest, skills and competitiveness of students pursuing biomedical research careers.