Drs. Cynthia Leifer and Hector Aguilar-Carreno in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology, College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University have been awarded an NIH NIAID Research Education Program grant entitled “Cornell Program to Increase Faculty Diversity and Promote Research Excellence”.

Several departments within Cornell University have successfully employed targeted pre-interviews on an ad hoc basis to increase the diversity of their applicant pool for faculty positions. This has led to an increase in diverse hires.

An exciting part of our program is that it will allow us to expand what has been done on a small ad hoc basis. We are looking for these “Rising Stars”: URM postdoctoral scientists doing high quality NIAID-mission related research getting ready to apply for faculty positions, to invite them to take part in a pre-interview at Cornell University. The pre-interview will include guidance on how to complete the application and formal interview process at Cornell. While taking part in the Rising Star program cannot guarantee a faculty position at Cornell, we can alert participants to upcoming openings. Any participant offered a position will be paired up with a mentor ambassador who can assist them in their decision. Once hired, the Rising Star will become a participant in the career development portions of the overall grant, which includes courses for skill development, research experience enhancement and mentoring.

To be considered for the Rising Star program, please send a copy of your updated cv, a one page research statement and the contact information for 3 professional references to us at pace@cornell.edu.

For more information about our program please visit our website at https://blogs.cornell.edu/pace/