The Research Career Development Core promotes the development of independent investigators in age related balance, mobility and falls research who can lead and participate in collaborative multidisciplinary projects. The RCDC supports research training throughout the phases of maturation, with programs targeted toward investigators at the Novice, Pepper Scholar, and Transition to Independence stages. The RCDC also sponsors a Visiting Scholar Program. Pepper Scholars receive direct salary support. The other trainees are funded through training grants and career development awards. All trainees participate in two seminar series;one on age related balance/mobility research and one on research skills (works in progress and tool box resources coordinated by the scholars). All participating trainees have research projects, mentoring teams and defined career goals. There is a rich pool of available mentors, laboratories and ongoing projects, and a broad range of formal coursework by established research training programs. New initiatives sponsored by the RCDC in this renewal include a competency based career planning infrastructure, a mandatory didactic series on key aspects of aging, balance and mobility research, including both clinical and basic topics, cross training for combined competence in basic and clinical research skills, and a mentee-mentor matching system to provide additional career support for mentees. Trainees are eligible for pilot grant support for research projects and for support from Research Resource Cores.