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UNDERGRADUATE SUMMER RESEARCH PROGRAM:  2008 NSSP Information
Mentoring and Education Core

 

 

William L. Woolverton, Ph.D.
Mentoring and Education Core Leader

Contact Dr. Woolverton
 
Core Personnel:
Clinical Mentors
Basic Science Mentors
Responsible Conduct of Research Course Director



Core Leader

Dr. Woolverton serves as the Scientific Director and as the Mentoring and Education Core leader of the Center for Psychiatric Neuroscience (CPN). Dr. Woolverton completed his graduate training in the behavioral pharmacology of drugs of abuse in 1977, at the University of Chicago. His research has been funded by the  National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) since receiving his post-doctoral National Research Service Award in 1978, and he is currently funded by R01s and a K05 award from NIDA. Dr. Woolverton served as the Scientific Director and Co-Principal Investigator of the Drug Abuse Research Center at the University of Chicago from 1986 until 1993. He has served as mentor for 17 pre- and post-doctoral trainees. He is a tenured Professor and past Director of the Division of Neurobiology and Behavior Research (1995-1999). He has a secondary appointment in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology. He has served as a regular member of two NIDA Study Sections (Drug Abuse Biomedical Review and Basic Behavioral Science Research Review) and is a frequent ad hoc reviewer for NIDA. He is currently a member of the Integrative, Functional, and Cognitive Neuroscience-1 Study Section at Center for Scientific Review, NIH.

Core Goals

The Mentoring and Education Core of the Center for Psychiatric Neuroscience (CPN) creates an academic environment that fosters the establishment of independent research programs of junior faculty investigators (Project Principal Investigators). This is accomplished through several different mechanisms:

Each CPN Project Principal Investigator is paired with both a basic science mentor and a clinical mentor, providing CPN Project PIs with scientific and career advice, as well as training in grants management, from senior faculty who are established researchers in closely related fields of study.
 
Holds monthly scientific meetings to review the scientific progress of the individual CPN-funded projects. These monthly scientific meetings also provide internal collaboration through which the CPN Project PIs benefit from the collective input of all senior faculty mentors.
 
Coordinates training in the Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) through a lecture series funded by the CPN.
 
Sponsors a Distinguished Speakers Seminar Series with lectures by visiting scientists to further enhance the academic environment of CPN Project PIs.
 
Provides training in proposal preparation through funding of attendance for CPN Project PIs to NIH-sponsored workshops, mock proposal submission and review sessions including an NIH study section-like review of the proposal, and regular meetings with mentors.
 
Requires mandatory training in other research activities including the use of animals in research, the protection of human research subjects, the handling and disposal of radioactivity, and the handling of recombinant DNA and other microbiological biohazards.
 
Sponsors a summer internship for undergraduate students to foster an interest in psychiatric neuroscience at the undergraduate level (Neuroscience Scholars Summer Program).