This is a resubmission from the Leadership Alliance (the Alliance) to support the Leadership Alliance National Symposium (LANS). The LANS is a 2 1/2-day weekend conference that provides a research presentation stage and networking/ mentoring venue for undergraduates and graduates primarily from underrepresented and underserved populations who participate in the Leadership Alliance summer program or who are associated with an Alliance member institution. The goals of the LANS are to build trainees'confidence in their research communication skills, clarify their knowledge about the steps needed to apply for and succeed in various training pathways;to learn the different academic career paths and to experience this learning within a trusted network of peers and role models. In order to accomplish these objectives, we propose to continue our informative and innovative summer research symposium through the following specific aims in which we will: 1. Host an interactive research forum and technical workshops that will enable a diverse group of undergraduates to communicate their research findings in an intimate and supportive environment;2. Provide technical workshops and skills-building opportunities for graduate students;3. Develop workshops and mentoring opportunities for recent PhD and MD/PhD alumni;4. Clarify career paths and provide networking with role models for all participants;5. Evaluate results for achieving these aims and goals to develop useful products and to disseminate the results. RELEVANCE: Through a longstanding partnership between minority-serving institutions and research-serving institutions LANS provides: 1) a biomedical research symposium for students with broad national impact;2) workshops on graduate school survival skills;3) well defined ancillary training activities;and 4) workshops for pre-docs and recent PhD graduates to encourage attainment of leadership positions in the STEM fields.