Increasing Future AI-Precision Nutrition Research Workforce to Promote Nutrition and Health - Revised Abstract Section Currently, there is a critical shortage of individuals from all communities with varied experiences at the interface of computational approaches or integrated data science skills and precision nutrition to analyze and interpret large and complex databases of individual characteristics to resolve nutrition and health differences. This application, aligning with the NIH AI-Precision Nutrition (AIPrN) program goal, proposes a new predoctoral and postdoctoral AIPrN research training program at Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU), a historically black university (HBCU) in collaboration with Baylor College of Medicine, designed to provide multidisciplinary training in computational data skills and precision nutrition to address unbalanced access to adequate nutrition and health based on simulations and real-world research projects covering obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer. The aims of this proposal are to 1) recruit, train, and financially support predoctoral students and post-doctoral fellows in AI/ML or nutritional science to the AI-Precision Nutrition research training program as a mechanism to build a skilled workforce of scientists integrating AI and Precision Nutrition to address nutrition and health issues; 2) develop and enhance research training program, technical assistance, and mentorship opportunities for such trainees to prepare, build capacity, and advance the field of knowledge and collaborative and integrated research in AI-Precision Nutrition approaches to tackle nutrition and health issues; and 3) provide professional development and foster leadership skills in AI-Precision Nutrition for our trainees who are positioned to apply for fellowships, grants, and as a way to facilitate exposure to careers in AI- Precision Nutrition research and transition to research-intensive careers in academia, industry, the NIH, and private foundations. These objectives will be met through rigorous didactic training, mentorship, engagement in laboratory rotations for sample research projects, and professional and career development. We will engage with a team of 12 faculty mentors with expertise spanning various chronic diseases and ensure broad community engagement from PVAMU and the USDA/ARS Children Nutrition Research Center, Baylor College of Medicine (CNRC). Three predoctoral students and 1 postdoctoral fellow will be recruited each year over the 5-year grant cycle to PVAMU. During the course of their research training, predoctoral students and postdoctoral fellows will attend professional development workshops and seminars in grant writing, manuscript development, career development advising with the Career Services, and the NIH mandatory annual cross-site BSSR Data Analytics T32 Program grantee meetings. PVAMU, an HBCU with relevant programs in AI/machine learning and precision nutrition, and the cutting-edge research at CNRC, positions the two institutions to propel the goal to increase and strengthen the presence of qualified scientists and practitioners who come from a variety of backgrounds in the field of AIPrN to enhance access to adequate nutrition and health.
