About ACCEL

ACCEL provides opportunities for SDSU graduate students and postdoctoral scholars to access resources, career development, and scholarship opportunities paired with networking, community building, and mentorship. ACCEL participants work with Training Champions (TCs) and Mentors with diverse and complementary areas of expertise to accomplish the following objectives:

• Expand and strengthen the pipeline of students and scholars pursuing cancer research and careers.
• Broaden SDSU’s capacity to support and advance pre- and postdoctoral cancer research scholars.

Postdoctoral Fellows and Ph.D. /master’s students in the early stages of their professional trajectory. ACCEL identifies and recruits students and scholars in cancer, cancer prevention, and/or cancer health disparities research.

Advancing Cancer Careers for ExceLlence (ACCEL) is open and available to all who are interested to apply and/or participate, regardless of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin, in alignment with SDSU’s Affirming Equal Opportunity policy.

• Skills development courses focused on communication, grants and personnel management, grant writing, mock grant reviews, and access to grant calendars.
• Writing retreats, writing spaces, mentoring activities, community-building networks, and other activities to reduce isolation.
• Linkages to resources through GMAP, PACHE, the National Cancer Institute and other national organizations.

ACCEL provides you with current events, workshops, programs, and access to mentors that you need to thrive as an early career cancer scholar.

ACCEL helps connect you with:

• Seminars and workshops at MCC (need help with transportation? ACCEL can help!)
• Grant workshops (e.g. F31, F32)
• Social mixers to facilitate collaboration and network-building
• Professional development
• Writing support, e.g. annual Writing Retreats and weekly virtual writing spaces (DWS)
• Financial support, e.g., meeting registration fees (eg. AACR)