MARC at Georgia State University: Workforce Diversity through Honors Undergraduates

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PROJECT ABSTRACT MARC at Georgia State University (MARC@GSU) will create workforce diversity through honors undergraduates. GSU is the “right place at the right time” for a new MARC program; our institution offers an unusual combination of “research intensive institution” with over 50,000 students in a “minority-majority” population. Yet the institutional culture does not yet support impressive levels of alumni earning PhDs. A strategic thrust of MARC@GSU will be to leverage GSU’s growing number of state-of-the-art interdisciplinary undergraduate programs like B&B (Brains & Behavior), MBD (Molecular Basis of Disease), and IMSD (Initiative for Maximizing Student Development), as well as summer high-school programs like CTY (Catch Them Young) and ION (Institute on Neuroscience), to provide hands-on training, opportunities to cultivate life and professional skills, and gain in-person exposure to career pathways in biomedical and behavioral sciences. MARC will help us reach critical mass of support programs and training funds to change our culture. Out of almost 1,000 MARC-eligible undergraduates in biology, chemistry, neuroscience, and psychology, we will recruit 6-8 per cohort into our wrap-around programming grounded in four program objectives: 1) engage students in state-of-the-art research assistantships at GSU and externships at Harvard or Vanderbilt; 2) enhance the academic environment through honors-level course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs), seminars, a futuristic biotechnology course, and honors theses; 3) promote scientific communication, psychosocial awareness, and technical skills through workshops, conference travel, maker projects, and professional stewardship; and 4) maximize comprehensive mentoring and individualized career support through NRMN mentor training. IDPs, professional field trips, and timeline planning apps will alert scholars to a diverse array of career paths in research and facilitate clear career planning. Per our evaluation plan, we will evaluate student progress toward internal dispositions that predict research careers (e.g. self-efficacy and science identity), and measure the NIH benchmarks of 90% of MARC Scholars completing bachelor’s degrees, 60% proceeding into PhD programs, and 80% of those completing their advanced degrees. A balanced pair of Co-Principal Investigators, with expertise in both education and bench science, is well-positioned to lead a diverse and enthusiastic team of four key faculty, and over 30 supportive and productive faculty preceptors, working with foundational support from the Honors College and a new Center for the Advancement of Students and Alumni (CASA) at Georgia State. Ultimately, MARC@GSU will prepare individuals from underrepresented groups for successful research careers, thereby helping to enhance the US research workforce.