The governing Board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) has approved $46,076,430 to invest in its newest education pillar- the COMPASS (Creating Opportunities through Mentorship and Partnership Across Stem cell Science) training program.

Education is at the core of CIRM’s mission of accelerating world class science to deliver transformative regenerative medicine treatments in an equitable manner to a diverse California and world. And funding these additional programs is an important step in ensuring that California has a well-trained stem cell workforce.

The objective of COMPASS is to prepare a diverse cadre of undergraduate students for careers in regenerative medicine through combining hands-on research opportunities with strategic and structured mentorship experiences.

“Education and infrastructure are two funding pillars critical for creating the next generation of researchers and conducting stem cell based clinical trials,” says Jonathan Thomas, Ph.D., J.D., Chair of the CIRM Board. “The importance of these programs was acknowledged in Proposition 14 and we expect that they will continue to be important components of CIRM’s programs and strategic direction in the years to come.”

Most undergraduate research training programs, including those targeting students from underserved communities, target individuals with predefined academic credentials as well as a stated commitment towards graduate school, medical school, or faculty positions in academia. COMPASS will support the development and implementation of novel strategies to recognize and foster untapped talent that can lead to new and valuable perspectives that are specific to the challenges of regenerative medicine, and that will create new paths to a spectrum of careers that are not always apparent to students in the academic, undergraduate environment.

COMPASS will complement but not compete with CIRM’s Bridges program, a subset of which serve a different, but equally important population of undergraduate trainees; similarly, the program is unlikely to compete for the same pools of students that would be most likely to receive support through the major NIH Training Programs such as MARC and RISE.

Here are the 16 successful applicants.

Application number	Title	Principal Investigator	Amount
EDUC5-13840	The COMPASS Scholars Program – Developing Today’s Untapped Talent into Tomorrow’s STEM Cell Researchers	John Matsui, University of California, Berkeley	$2,908,950
EDUC5-13634	COMPASS Undergraduate Program	Alice F Tarantal, University of California, Davis	$2,909,950
EDUC5-13637	Research Mentorship Program in Regenerative Medicine Careers for a Diverse Undergraduate Student Body	Brian J. Cummings, University of California, Irvine	$2,729,900
EDUC5-13665	CIRM COMPASS Training Program (N-COMPASS)	Cindy S Malone, The University Corporation at California State University, Northridge	$2,909,700
EDUC5-13817	COMPASS: Accelerating Stem Cell Research by Educating and Empowering New Stem Cell Researchers	Tracy L Johnson, University of California, Los Angeles	$2,910,000
EDUC5-13744	Training and mentorship program in stem cell biology and engineering: A COMPASS for the future	Dennis Clegg, University of California, Santa Barbara	$2,746,000
EDUC5-13636	Research Training and Mentorship Program to Inspire Diverse Undergraduates toward Regenerative Medicine Careers (RAMP)	Huinan Hannah Liu, The Regents of the University of California on behalf of its Riverside Campus	$2,910,000
EDUC5-13679	Inclusive Pathways for a Stem Cell Scholar (iPSCs) Undergraduate Training Program	Lily Chen, San Francisco State University	$2,894,500
EDUC5-13733	A COMPASS to guide the growth of a diverse regenerative medicine workforce that represents California and benefits the world	Kristen OHalloran Cardinal, Cal Poly Corporation, an Auxiliary of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo	$2,887,939
EDUC5-13619	Increase Diversity, Equity, and Advancement in Cell Based Manufacturing Sciences (IDEA-CBMS)	Michael Fino, MiraCosta College	$2,894,500
EDUC5-13667	COMPASS Program for Southern California Hispanic Serving Institution	Bianca Romina Mothé, California State University San Marcos Corporation	$2,877,200
EDUC5-13653	Student Pluripotency: Realizing Untapped Undergraduate Potential in Regenerative Medicine	Daniel Nickerson, California State University, San Bernardino	$2,909,853
EDUC5-13647	COMPASS: an inclusive Pipeline for Research and Other Stem cell-based Professions in Regenerative medicine (iPROSPR)	Alison Miyamoto, CSU Fullerton Auxiliary Services Corporation	$2,883,440
EDUC5-13686	Training Undergraduates in Stem Cell Engineering and Biology (TUSCEB)	Kara E McCloskey, University of California, Merced	$2,909,999
EDUC5-13853	COMPASS: Guiding Undergraduates to Careers in Regenerative Medicine	Senta Georgia, University of Southern California	$2,899,999
EDUC5-13910	IDEA-CBMS – Increase Diversity, Equity, and Advancement in Cell Based Manufacturing Sciences	James Dekloe, Solano Community College	$2,894,500