The goal of the fellowship program is to help Hispanic serving institutions of higher education and to help their faculty become more knowledgeable and competitive in the procurement of federal grants in the health care field.

Each fellow will complete an online course, attend three training sessions and visit and receive information about funding opportunities from administration and staff throughout the National Institutes of Health.

The training program is intended to strengthen the capacity of minority institutions to attract and retain funding for biomedical and health services research and other sponsored programs and to provide institutions with more information about post-award management and institutional compliance.

Mora said she was very happy to win the fellowship.

"I feel honored and excited and look forward to meeting other faculty members," she said. "My future goal related to this fellowship is to write a grant on behalf of CSUN to develop a program to increase Latino student access into health care careers."

California State University, Northridge has more than 32,000 full- and part-time students and offers 59 bachelor's and 41 master's degrees. Founded in 1958, it is the only four-year university in the San Fernando Valley and the third largest in the 23-campus CSU system. The Western Association of Schools and Colleges recently said CSUN "stands as a model to other public urban institutions of higher learning."