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Carlos Crespo, right, head of Portland State University's school of community health, talks with Alan Keys, left, and Catalina Urrutia-Jorde, two Portland college students who plan to apply to become part of PSU's mega-million-dollar push to graduate more diverse scientists who might conduct breakthrough research on health prevention, biomedical science and related fields.

(Portland State University )

Hundreds of promising young people in the Portland area and elsewhere will have the opportunity to get college scholarships, stipends, paid research gigs and mentoring by research professors, beginning next fall.

The National Institutes of Health selected Portland State University for a $24 million grant, the largest in PSU history, designed to help grow the number of biomedical and health researchers who are Latino, Pacific Islander, Alaska native, African-American, Native American, low-income, raised in foster care or have a disability.

The hope is that with researchers from diverse backgrounds with fresh ways of approaching problems will help create breakthroughs in preventative health promotion, bioscience and other critical health research, said Carlos Crespo, director of PSU's school of community health.

The NIH millions will fund a new program at PSU, called Enhancing Cross-disciplinary Infrastructure Training at Oregon, or EXITO. Students will be chosen based on their grades, letters of recommendation and statement of why becoming a scientist beckons them, said Crespo, who conceived of and will run EXITO.

Students will receive scholarships, stipends, mentoring, summer seminars, paid job experience, and dedicated academic and financial aid advising— essentially, everything a student would need to be successful, Crespo said.

Crespo said PSU has at least three big strengths that swayed NIH to give it mega-millions:

>>It has a well-established connections with Portland Community College and other community colleges that allow students to start there, then easily transfer to PSU to complete a degree. Community colleges are an affordable, close-to-home way to start college that appeals to minority and low-income students, he said.

>> PSU has a strong connection to Oregon Health & Science University, as can be seen in their joint creation of a sparkling new integrated science education and research building. PSU undergrads easily can get opportunities to work for and with medical and dental school researchers, he said.

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>> PSU attracts a lot of bright minority and low-income students, Crespo said. PSU President Wim Wiewel said in a statement, "We're looking at an incoming freshman class that's 42 percent students of color."

In addition to OHSU and PCC, Portland State also is working with Chemeketa Community College, Clackamas Community College, Clark College, the University of Alaska, the University of Hawaii, the University of Guam, American Samoa Community College and Northern Marianas College on the project.

The grant is part of a larger $240 million effort by NIH to develop researchers from backgrounds that are underrepresented in biomedical sciences and prepare them to thrive in the NIH-funded workforce.

Sixty-five students will be chosen to enter the project next fall. Those numbers will grow over the five years of the project.

-- Betsy Hammond

betsyhammond@oregonian.com