MARC U*STAR AT SUNY OLD WESTBURY

College At Old Westbury, Old Westbury NY

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This is a renewal application that seeks to continue the MARC-U*STAR program at SUNY College at Old Westbury. The overall goal of the program is to increase the number and quality of underrepresented minority students who will seek careers in biomedical research. The rationale is that there continues to be a shortage of minorities among biomedical scientists and in training programs leading to doctoral degrees in the biomedical sciences. Further, while Old Westbury has had both research and training programs in place for many years that address this problem, prior to this program biomedical training activities were focused in the relatively limited area of the neurosciences. The program therefore has sought to both increase training opportunities for underrepresented minority students and to diversify them to include other disciplines relevant to the biomedical sciences. This renewal application seeks to continue these activities. Specifically we propose to continue the U*STAR honors program which is designed to achieve the following specific and measurable objectives: (1) To increase by approximately 33% the number of MARC students per year participating in summer research at major research-intensive institutions. (2) To broaden the range of available on-campus training experiences to include at least three new biomedical sciences sub-disciplines. (3) To double the four-year total of underrepresented minority chemistry graduates who will pursue Ph.D. degrees. (4) To increase the number of underrepresented minority biology graduates who will pursue Ph.D. degrees to at least 2 per year.