Portland State Awarded $24 Million to Help Diverse and Disadvantaged Students

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Kirsten Nicolaisen, GoLocalPDX Digital Producer

Photo credit: iStock

The National Institute of Health awarded Portland State University a $24 million research grant on Wednesday to help underrepresented and diverse students pursue careers in biomedical, behavioral, social, or clinical research and other health sciences.

The funding will support students of Hispanic, African American, American Indian, Alaskan Native and Pacific Islander heritage as well as students with disabilities, histories of foster care, or economic disadvantage, according to PSU.

“We’re looking at an incoming freshman class that’s 42 percent students of color,” said Wim Wiewel, president of PSU. “Never before has there been such a robust program to create opportunities for underrepresented students to pursue degrees in health sciences.”

The money will fund a new PSU program, Enhancing Cross-disciplinary Infrastructure Training at Oregon (EXITO). Students accepted to the program will receive scholarships, stipends, mentoring, summer seminars, paid job experience and academic and financial aid advising, according to Scot Gallagher, PSU communications director.

PSU is collaborating with Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU), several Portland metro community colleges and the University of Alaska, University of Hawaii, University of Guam, American Samoa Community College and Northern Marianas College on the EXITO program.

“In addition to the hard work and creativity of our lead investigators, PSU's ability to win this major award was enhanced by our extensive collaborations with OHSU, and by recent investments in our research infrastructure,” said Jonathon Fink, VP of research and strategic partnerships at PSU. “As has been shown repeatedly around the country, a single large grant like this has the power to transform universities. We look forward to building on this terrific accomplishment.”

The grant is part of a larger $240 million investment by the National Institute of Health to develop new approaches for researchers from backgrounds underrepresented in biomedical sciences. PSU is one of 10 institutions selected through this initiative. The awardees will establish a national consortium to develop, implement, and evaluate approaches to encourage students to pursue biomedical research careers, according to PSU.