The NIH-SCORE Program (Support of Continuous Research Excellence) seeks to increase the biomedical research capabilities of minority-serving institutions and to augment the research competitiveness of faculty at those institutions. SCORE is funded by the National Institutes of Health, specifically by the Minority Biomedical Research Support (MBRS) agency within the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS). The overall goal of the program is to increase the numbers of minority students trained in the basic biomedical and behavioral disciplines.
The SCORE program at NMSU was initiated in year 2000, as a derivative of the traditional MBRS Program, which preceded SCORE at NMSU from 1974-2000. Dr. Glenn D. Kuehn, Regents Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, has served as the director of the NMSU SCORE Program since its inception. There are currently 18 faculty members from the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Agriculture and Home Economics whose research projects receive funding from the current four-year SCORE grant (#S06 GM008136). These faculty are listed here, along with their departments and the titles of their SCORE research projects. Over the 8 years of the program, an additional 13 faculty members have benefited from SCORE funding. Since its inception in 2000, overall funding for the NMSU SCORE Program has totaled $15,298,716 in direct costs and $6,292,751 in indirect costs. During the 2007-2008 budget year alone, the SCORE program was awarded $2,237,149 (direct) and $1,007,572 (indirect) at NMSU from 1974 to 2000.
The traditional MBRS Program and its subsequent derivatives, now known as the MBRS-SCORE and MBRS-RISE Programs, have all existed at NMSU since 1974 with continuous funding. Over $47 million dollars in total funding have supported these programs, and at least 97 former NMSU students, all of Hispanic, American Indian and African-American heritages, have been trained in these programs and have all earned Ph.D. degrees in the basic biomedical science disciplines.
The NIH- SCORE Program has sponsored the NMSU Research Environment Study, which seeks to understand the current climate for conducting professional
research at New Mexico State University. Over the past three years, the SCORE Program staff has worked with faculty and staff researchers across NMSU
colleges to characterize their working experience and to define aspects of the research environment that help or hinder their scholarly work. Results
of the NMSU Research Environment Survey are now available HERE for perusal or
downloading as a pdf document. Participation in the survey represented
more than 80% of the funded NMSU research investigators. The survey report is 107 pages with 111 figures. For those interested in an overview of the
survey results, see the Executive Summary (pg. 1) and the Introduction and Methodology (pg. 4, Section E) to obtain highlights of the report.
NMSU SCORE CONTACTS:
- Dr. Glenn D. Kuehn, Program Director, 575-646-5881, gkuehn@nmsu.edu
- Dr. Janet M. Darrow, Program Evaluator, 575-646-5841, jdarrow@nmsu.edu
- Ms. Vonnie Reinke, Program Coordinator, 575-646-2424, vreinke@nmsu.edu