ASHA invites applications to two programs designed to encourage the careers of early researchers: a new research mentoring program, Pathways; and the Research Mentoring-Pair Travel Awards program, which subsidizes the cost of attending ASHA's annual research symposium.
Pathways: July 1 Deadline for New Program
If you're an early-career, clinically trained researcher, you could be a member of the inaugural Pathways cohort.
Pathways will provide a mentoring network to help early-career clinical scientists in communication sciences and disorders (CSD) develop foundations for their independent research careers.
In its 2013 inaugural year, Pathways will accept 10–15 junior-level researchers. Each participant will be paired with a mentor who is an experienced researcher. Participants and mentors will meet at a two-and-a-half day conference at ASHA's national office in Rockville, Maryland, in February 2013. The conference will combine lectures, one-on-one mentoring sessions, facilitated discussions, and breakout sessions.
The program will focus on early career steps such as developing a five-year career plan, acculturating to a research career, building a publication record sufficient to support a competitive federal research grant proposal, and learning about funding mechanisms.
Following the conference, participants will receive ongoing remote mentoring and educational support from their mentors to accomplish individual goals. They also will learn about conducting clinical research and sustaining a clinical research career from an online Clinical Research Education Library (CRED) of multimedia resources, and participate in an online social community.
Pathways is supported by a grant from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) designed to accelerate fundamental, translational, and patient-oriented research in CSD by enhancing the training, retention, and funding success of CSD clinical scientists.
The funding will allow ASHA to integrate several research education and mentoring programs into a unified ASHA Research Mentoring (ARM) Network. The Pathways program represents a new entry-level opportunity in the ARM Network, with ongoing programs such as Lessons for Success and the Clinical Practice Research Institute, continuing to provide more advanced opportunities. ARM Network programs will be connected through shared use of the CRED resources and the online social community. Information about all of ASHA's research and mentoring programs is available on ASHA's research webpage.
ASHA welcomes Pathways applications from clinical scientists who are candidacy-level PhD students, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty below the associate professor level. Individuals with a clinical doctorate who have at least one year of research experience also are eligible to apply, and will be considered for their plans to develop an independent research career. More information and application details are available at ASHA's Pathways Program webpage. The application deadline is July 1.
Research Mentoring-Pair Travel Awards: June 30 Deadline
The 2012 Research Mentoring-Pair Travel Award Program is accepting applications from students, clinicians, and emerging scientists interested in research careers. The award helps defray the cost of attending ASHA's 22nd Annual Research Symposium, "Measuring Rehabilitation Outcomes Using Large Datasets," scheduled for Saturday, November 17, at the 2012 ASHA Convention in Atlanta, Georgia.
The symposium, sponsored by NIDCD, is designed to bring together communication sciences and disorders researchers to discuss ongoing and new research on the topic with invited presenters who are experts in their fields.
The symposium is open to all convention attendees; no tickets are required.
The research travel award is designed to foster the professional development of students, clinicians, and emerging scientists interested in CSD research careers. Up to five awards of $1,000 each will be given to eligible pairs of mentors and protégés ($750/protégé, $250/mentor).
Special consideration will be given to individuals whose research interests are relevant to the symposium topic, interdisciplinary, translational, or related to issues of cultural or linguistic diversity.
Protégés must be a current master's or doctoral student, a postdoctoral fellow, or a junior-level faculty member (fewer than six years teaching/research experience in a tenure-track position or below the level of associate professor). Mentors must be experienced investigators in an academic or clinical research environment.
The application deadline is June 30, 2012. For more information and application details, visit ASHA's Research Mentoring-Pair Travel Award webpage or contact research@asha.org.