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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 (NIH), specifically by the Minority Opportunities Research Advancement (MORE) division within the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS). The overall goal of the SCORE program is to improve research excellence in order to increase the numbers of ethnic minority students trained in the basic biomedical and behavioral disciplines.

History and Funding of the Program

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, Academic Head of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Regents Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, has served as the director of the NMSU SCORE Program since its inception. In the year ending June 1, 2008, there were 18 faculty members from the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Agriculture and Home Economics whose research projects received funding from a four-year SCORE grant (#S06 GM008136). These faculty are listed here, along with their departments and the titles of their SCORE research projects. During the first eight years of the program, an additional 13 faculty members benefited from SCORE funding, and overall funding for the NMSU SCORE Program totaled $15,298,716 (in direct costs) and $6,292,751 (in indirect costs). For the 2007-2008 budget year alone, the SCORE program was awarded $2,237,149 (direct) and $1,007,572 (indirect).

During the current year (2008-2009), nine NMSU faculty are receiving funds from individual SCORE grants (see "Recent Changes in the NIH- SCORE Program" below), for a total of $1,188,332 (direct) and $481,945 (indirect). Those faculty are listed here along with their research project titles and departments. The traditional MBRS Program and its subsequent derivatives, now known as the SCORE and RISE (Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement) Programs, have existed at NMSU since 1974 with continuous funding. Over $48 million dollars in total funding have supported these programs, and at least 102 former NMSU students, all of Hispanic, American Indian and African-American heritages who have been trained in these programs, have earned Ph.D. degrees in the basic biomedical science disciplines.

Recent Changes in the NIH-SCORE Program

The existing SCORE program has recently been revised by NIH from a program-project structure (a consortium of faculty members) to an individual grant structure, and its name has been changed (Support of Competitive Research). Three types of awards are potentially available to individual faculty for research in biomedical fields: Research Advancement Award (SC1), Pilot Project Award (SC2) and Research Continuance Award (SC3). Information about these awards and the grant application procedures can be found at the following URLs:

• http://www.nigms.nih.gov/Research/Mechanisms/MBRSAwards.htm
• http://www.nigms.nih.gov/Minority/MBRS/SCOREUpdateFAQ.htm

Because a minority-serving institution may hold no more than 25 SCORE grants at any time, applications for these awards at NMSU are being coordinated by the Office of the Vice-President for Research, Graduate Studies, and International Programs. (Contact Laura Haas at 575-646-3110 for further information.)

NMSU Research Environment Survey

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 several years, the SCORE Program staff has worked with research scholars across NMSU colleges to characterize their working experience and to define aspects of the research environment that help or hinder their scholarly work. From October to December 2006, NMSU faculty and staff researchers were invited to participate in a web-based survey. Participation was greater than expected for a voluntary, on-line survey, and respondents represented more than 80% of funded NMSU research scholars.

Complete results of the NMSU Research Environment Survey are available here for downloading and printing as two separate reports: the first report (Quantitative) contains analysis and cross-college comparison of quantifiable survey responses; the second (Qualitative) presents text analysis of written responses to the open-ended survey questions. Each report is approximately 100 pages in length with figures and tables. For those interested in an overview of the survey results, see the Executive Summary for each report (page 1) as well as the introduction, methods and summary sections. Taken together, both reports offer a comprehensive overview of the opinions of NMSU scholars about the NMSU research environment and their suggestions for improvements.

NMSU SCORE CONTACTS:

• Dr. Glenn D. Kuehn, Program Director, 575-646-1015, 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