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California State University, Northridge has been awarded nearly $22 million to help boost diversity in the biomedical workforce across the country.
The grant by the National Institutes of Health is the largest single grant the school has ever received. Most of the money will go to students and faculty members that have signed on to mentor the students.
Cris Khachikian — the associate vice president for research and graduate studies at CSUN — said the grant will also help the university connect with other institutions.
"So we have six community colleges partners, five research partners, which include four UCs and the Claremont Graduate University," Khachikian told KPCC. "We want to connect all these people together so we sort of have this fabric support for students coming out of high schools getting into either junior college or CSUN and then getting from there going into these research intensive institutions that hopefully will help them enter the workforce that way."
According to the NIH, the grant is part of an initiative aimed to create new ways to engage researchers, including those from backgrounds underrepresented in biomedical sciences, and prepare them for the NIH-funded workforce, according to a press release from CSUN.
CSUN officials will also be working with officials from Los Angeles Valley College, Pasadena City College, Los Angeles Mission College, Los Angeles Pierce College, East Los Angeles College and Santa Monica College to try to support students transferring from community colleges, according to the press release from CSUN.
The NIH grant will be paid out over five years.