The Southwest Transformative Educational Advancement Mentoring (STEAM) Network

The Southwest Transformative Educational Advancement Mentoring (STEAM) Network is an NIH-funded initiative designed to strengthen the cancer biomedical workforce by providing professional career development, mentoring and networking opportunities for underrepresented researchers across the U.S. Southwest. Framed within the NIH’s Transformative Educational Advancement and Mentoring (TEAM) integrated network, STEAM targets graduate students, postdoctoral trainees and junior faculty who are U.S. citizens engaged in cancer-related research at The University of New Mexico, New Mexico State University, Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine and Northern Arizona University. STEAM emphasizes equitable access by offering its core activities at no cost to participants and by centering support for scholars from historically underrepresented backgrounds.

The program offered travel scholarships, training and funding opportunity information, mentorship, annual training summits and professional development webinars. The STEAM program also provides mechanisms to support dissemination and scholarly advancement, such as publication support grants and travel funds awards, which applicants can request through dedicated application processes.

By aligning with the NIH TEAM initiative and leveraging Training Champions to provide navigation and career development support, STEAM positions scholars to better traverse the academic pipeline in oncology research.