Workforce Development & Training

CPDE has extensive experience collaborating with partners to support and evaluation workforce development and training initiatives. Programs focus on building knowledge and skills, strengthening networks, installing new policies and / or opportunities for recruitment and retention, and enhancing infrastructure within and across organizations. In these projects, CPDE utilizes mixed methods, multi-level, longitudinal measurement designs to assess processes and outcomes.

Workforce Development and Training projects include:

INBRE (IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence) (New Hampshire & Vermont)

The INBRE program (IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence) supports collaboration between research-intensive institutions and primarily undergraduate institutions and/or community colleges. These programs aim to expand the science and technology capacity and infrastructure in their state by providing increased opportunities for students and faculty to experience and lead original biomedical research. CPDE is responsible for assessing impact on students, faculty, undergraduate research culture, and science research infrastructure at partner institutions in each state. Our evaluation plans include online and in-person surveys, focus groups, one-on-one interviews, direct observation, and longitudinal follow-up and tracking using direct outreach and social media resources. (Funder: National Institutes of Health)

POWERED (Program for Oncology Workforce Education and Research Experience at Dartmouth)

Dartmouth’s Norris Cotton Cancer Center (NCCC) received a five-year training grant from the National Cancer Institute to increase the underrepresented minority (URM) workforce in cancer research. First and second year students from colleges and universities in New Hampshire who meet the NIH qualifications for designation as an underrepresented minority are eligible to be a POWERED scholar, giving them two summers in residence at NCCC as paid full-time researchers and four semesters paid part time working in labs with their mentors at their home institutions. CPDE’s non-experimental, longitudinal evaluation plan is designed to collect qualitative and quantitative data at multiple time points during a student cohort’s two-year engagement. We use formative evaluation to monitor, refine, and re-examine program implementation during the active project period, and summative evaluation at the end of the project period to determine overall effectiveness and impact, and to describe the extent to which the program has met its stated goals and objectives. (Funder: National Cancer Institute)

Rivier PIPELINE

The goal of Rivier University’s PIPELine program is to improve the distribution and supply of the behavioral health workforce serving the vulnerable populations across the lifespan in high need and high demand areas of rural New Hampshire, as well as in many rural areas in the surrounding geographic region of New England. The PIPELine program consists of several intervention strategies including a stipend, educational workshops, curriculum enhancements, and interdisciplinary collaborations. Participation is offered to students in the Division of Nursing low residency Master of Science Mental Health Nurse Practitioner degree program (MSN PMHNP) and the Doctor of Psychology in Counseling and School Psychology (PsyD) program. (Funder: Health Resources and Services Administration)

COBRE Center for Rural Health Care Delivery Science

This COBRE (Centers for Biomedical Research Excellence) program at Dartmouth Health supports the establishment of innovative biomedical and behavioral research centers. In its first phase, the Center for Rural Health Care Delivery Science focuses on building the capacity of early-career clinician-scientists to become independent researchers and address healthcare disparities. These early career investigators are provided mentoring and additional resources through Cores, in this case to support the use of innovative research methods and community-focused research. CPDE’s evaluation plan focuses on investigator progress toward independent researcher status, the effectiveness of Center support, and a bidirectional mentoring assessment to understand quality and fit of the relationship. These activities are carried out using quantitative and qualitative methodologies including online surveys, interviews, and internal document review. (Funder: National Institutes of Health)

COBRE Center for Molecular Epidemiology

This COBRE (Centers for Biomedical Research Excellence) program at Dartmouth College supports the establishment of innovative biomedical and behavioral research centers. In its third and final phase, the Center for Molecular Epidemiology focuses on maintaining research cores (Pilot Core and Biorepository Core) and sustaining a collaborative and multidisciplinary research environment. For this project, CPDE supports Core improvement and sustainability progress through assessment of Center research impact, career impacts, and financial sustainability. (Funder: National Institutes of Health)