Introduction

Under the DHS Scientific Leadership Awards for Minority Serving Institutions grant program, U. S. Department of Homeland Security awarded a grant to Cal State L.A. entitled: "BioSecurity Research and Education Programs at Cal State L.A." in April 2009 (Principal Investigator: Dr. Howard Xu). This three-year grant supports the following programs:

(1) A research project of a junior faculty (Dr. Howard Xu) with active student participation focusing on development of techniques for rapid detection of bacterial pathogens including select agents;

(2) The development of a BioSecurity Concentration within the Microbiology Major to educate future workforce of homeland security specializing in BioSecurity;

(3) The establishment of research training and internship sites and programs for students of the BioSecurity Concentration on campus, around Southern California and at National Laboratories;

(4) Awarding of DHS BioSecurity Scholarships (application form doc or pdf) to highly qualified and motivated undergraduate students who will receive stipends, academic research training in faculty laboratories and summer internships at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico;

(5) Outreach and recruiting efforts on campus and around L.A. basin to increase awareness of careers in homeland security and Cal State L.A.'s BioSecurity Programs.