UWF receives $555K NIH award to launch NeuroNauts Scholars Program

The University of West Florida has been awarded a five-year, $555,000 National Institutes of Health R25 Research Education Grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke to establish the NeuroNauts Scholars Program. The program will provide cohorts of eight local high school juniors and seniors with an intensive eight-week summer research experience spanning multiple areas of neuroscience, from Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease to cognitive psychology, computational neuroscience, stroke health disparities and sensory processing in neurodevelopmental disorders.

"Programs like NeuroNauts represent exactly the kind of innovative initiative that advances both our research mission and our commitment to the people of Northwest Florida," said UWF Provost Dr. Jaromy Kuhl. "Introducing high school students to real scientific research, mentored by faculty who are leaders in their fields, is how we build the next generation of scientists and strengthen the pipeline into STEM careers for our region."

The project is led by Dr. Rodney Guttmann, professor and interim chair of the Department of Biology, and Dr. Allison Schwartz, director of UWF's Office of Undergraduate Research. The program pairs each student with a faculty mentor for the full eight weeks, embedding them in active research laboratories across biology, psychology, mathematics and public health.

"What makes this program different is that these students are not watching demonstrations or completing cookbook exercises," Guttmann said. "They are embedded in active research programs working side by side with faculty on real questions. One student might be developing blood-based biomarkers for early Alzheimer's detection while another is running EEG experiments on sensory processing or building computational models of neural network dynamics down the hall. That breadth of exposure is something most students do not encounter until graduate school, and we are offering it to high schoolers right here in Pensacola."

The program's faculty mentors represent a wide range of neuroscience expertise, including research on blood-based biomarkers for early Alzheimer's detection, exercise-related neuroprotection in Parkinson's disease, immune system roles in neurological disorders, EEG studies of sensory processing in autism and ADHD, visual working memory and cognition, computational brain modeling, and stroke risk and health disparities. The team also includes a physician providing clinical perspective linking laboratory research to patient care, along with a nationally recognized undergraduate research leader who oversees program evaluation and research training.

"This award reflects the depth of research talent we have at UWF," said Dr. Mohamed Khabou, dean of UWF's Hal Marcus College of Science and Engineering. "Faculty from multiple departments came together to build a genuinely interdisciplinary neuroscience training program. The potential impact on these students and on our region's future scientific workforce is enormous."

The program will recruit from Escambia and Santa Rosa County high schools. Students will be paid for their participation, removing financial barriers that might otherwise prevent talented young people from gaining research experience. Beyond daily laboratory work, the program includes seminars on research ethics, scientific communication and career development, culminating in a student research symposium. The inaugural program is set to run from June 1 through July 24, 2026. The deadline to apply is April 1.

For more information about the NeuroNauts Scholars Program, visit bit.ly/NeuroNautsProgram or contact Program Coordinator Emily Harris at [email protected] or 850.474.2751. For more information about the Department of Biology, visit uwf.edu/biology. For more information about the Hal Marcus College of Science and Engineering, visit uwf.edu/hmcse. For more information about the Office of Undergraduate Research, visit uwf.edu/our.

This project is supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R25NS147367. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.