The project goals are to (a) Further strengthen the biomedical/behavioral research development capability of faculty and students and (b) Modernize the technology whereby faculty and students can gain access to funding sources. The specific activities to achieve these goals are: (i) Support faculty pilot projects by providing seed money, (it) Support grant writing and grant development workshops on preparing competitive proposals, (iii) Increase collaborations and partnerships with research-intensive institutions for joint research, joint proposal development and reciprocal faculty seminars, (iv) Sponsor a biomedical seminar series to stimulate research among students and faculty, and (v) Provide travel funds to faculty and students for scholarly activities. Since the inception of EARDA in 1995, the number of funded grants in biomedical and marine environmental (BME) sciences have increased from one in 1995 to eight in 2003,the external BME funding increased almost nine fold from $165,000 to $1.35 million annually, eighty eight percent (7/8) of currently funded Principal Investigators/Program Directors are former EARDA pilot project recipients, and eighty percent (16/20) faculty members involved in these funded projects are former EARDA pilot awardees. Furthermore, the number of students engaged in funded research and research training increased from practically none to 24, the number of research collaborations with research intensive universities increased form practically none to five, the number of proposal writing workshops conducted from zero prior to 1995 to five during the EARDA phase I and II. The number of student and faculty presentations has also significantly increased. If funded, the EARDA Transition will focus on developing the research capability of faculty and students by supporting faculty pilot projects, grant writing workshops, research partnerships and biomedical seminars. Faculty in physical and behavioral sciences that have not benefited form the EARDA in the past will be the main focus of this phase. The administration enthusiastically supports, and is committed to the continuation of research development capability of faculty and students when EARDA funding concludes.