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Native Children’s Research Exchange SCHOLARS PROGRAM


Native Children’s Research Exchange SCHOLARS PROGRAM

Cohort 7 – 2018-2019

APPLICATIONS DUE Wednesday August 15th, 2018 – 5:00 PM MDT

The Native Children’s Research Exchange (NCRE; www.ncreconnect.org) brings together researchers studying child development from birth through emerging adulthood in Native communities. NCRE provides opportunities for the open exchange of information and ideas and for building collaborative relationships, supporting new investigators, and disseminating knowledge about Native children’s development. Supporting the career development of junior faculty and graduate students, particularly those who are American Indian, Alaska Native, or First Nations tribal community members, is central to NCRE’s mission. The NCRE Scholars Program (NIDA HHSN271201700715P) provides career development support to early career investigators and graduate students. It is designed for new scholars with interested in the development of Native children and adolescents and the impact of substance abuse. In the first six years of this program (2012-2018), NCRE Scholars included six cohorts of Scholars, including seven postdoctoral Scholars and six graduate students Scholars. This call for applications is for Cohort 7, which will launch in the fall of 2018. Both doctoral students and those who have recently completed doctoral degrees are eligible to apply.

A primary goal of the NCRE Scholars program is to support Scholars in building independent research portfolios by producing a publishable paper or grant application. At the Cohort 7 Launch Workshop, Scholars will draft Tailored Career Development Plans that will address their particular career development goals, including their plan for preparing a paper or grant application during the program year. These plans will include a Tailored Writing Requirement, Required Meetings, and Tailored Career Development Activities.

Tailored Writing Requirement | Publishable Paper or Grant Application

The requirement for a publishable paper or grant application will vary for predoctoral and postdoctoral Scholars. Postdoctoral Scholars will be expected to focus writing efforts on developing a grant application. Depending on the career stage of the postdoctoral scholar, this may include preparing a full application for submission (e.g., a K award or R series) or developing a strategic plan for peer-review publication to build a portfolio that will support an application within two years of completing the NCRE Scholars program. Predoctoral Scholars will have the option of focusing writing efforts on a manuscript for peer-review publication (for example, tied to their dissertation work) or a predoctoral fellowship application (e.g., F31). The individualized writing goals will form the basis for each Scholar’s activities during the Writing Workshops.

Required Meetings

All Scholars will be required to participate in the following meetings during the 2018-2019 program year:

In-Person Meetings

  1. Cohort 7 Launch Workshop – October 8- 10th 2018; University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado

  2. One in-person Writing Workshop – date and location to be scheduled with Scholars

  3. 2019 Society for Prevention Research (SPR) conference – date TBD

(SPR may be replaced with another national conference better aligned with Scholar goals and research focus, as part of the tailored career development plan developed during the Cohort 7 Launch Workshop)

4. 2019 NCRE conference – September 2019; University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado

Virtual Meetings

  1. Monthly group mentoring with Drs. Sarche and Whitesell – time and date to be scheduled

  2. Monthly NCRE Writing Workshops – time and date to be scheduled

Tailored Career Development Activities

Options for Tailored Career Development Activities include, but are not limited to:

  1. Attending a training related to career development goals (e.g., statistical or methodological training)

  2. Traveling to a research mentor's lab or institution, and/or to an AIAN community in which the mentor works, to participate in data collection or analysis, meeting with other research team members and community collaborators, attending a tribal research advisory board meeting, etc.

  3. Attending and presenting research at an additional relevant national research conference (e.g., Society for Research on Child Development, Society for Research on Adolescence, American Psychological Association Division 45/The Society for the Psychology Study of Ethnic Minority Issues, etc.)

Eligible Applicants

Eligible applicants include students currently enrolled in doctoral programs in psychology, sociology, anthropology, education, or related disciplines, or recent graduates of such programs (within 5 years of receiving a doctoral degree). Successful applicants will provide a well-articulated concept proposal for a specific paper or grant application to be developed as a part of the NCRE Scholars program.

Application Materials

The following materials must be submitted via email to caitlin.trucksess@ucdenver.edu no later than 5:00 pm MDT on

Wednesday, August 15, 2018.

Items to be submitted by applicants:

  • Completed application form available at https://tinyurl.com/NCREScholars and attached to this email.

  • Curriculum vitae

  • Personal statement (limit 500 words) summarizing previous research experience and current career goals

  • 1-page concept proposal for paper or grant application - brief description of the writing product you would develop with NCRE Scholars’ support.

To be submitted by individuals providing reference letters:

  • Two letters of reference from faculty or colleagues who can speak to applicant’s research potential – reference letters should be submitted by individual writing the reference directly to Caitlin Trucksess.

Applicants will be notified of selection decisions on September 1, 2018.

Please contact Nancy Rumbaugh Whitesell (nancy.whitesell@ucdenver.edu) for more information.


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