Teaching the next generation

Postdoctoral research scientists will get a chance to grow their teaching skills and inspire a new generation of college students to enter research careers with the help of a $3.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.

The five-year Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Award will allow the fellows to conduct research and gradually phase in the teaching component, until nearly half of their time is spent in classroom instruction at three partnering undergraduate institutions: St. Mary’s University, Trinity University and Our Lady of the Lake University. It is part of the San Antonio Biomedical Education and Research program.

“Postdoctoral fellows may be doing wonderful research, but that does not equip them to stand up to teach a class of freshmen, or seniors for that matter,” said Kay Oyajobi, M.B.B.S., Ph.D., M.B.A., program co-director. “Through this program, we encourage young researchers to think about all the things that will confront them in the classroom if they teach at a primarily undergraduate institution. We can equip them with the tools they need to succeed by leveraging the teaching excellence at our partner institutions.”