UC Davis MARC Scholar Program

描述（由申请人提供）：加州大学戴维斯分校MARC学者计划将为未被充分代表的少数民族（URM）学生准备进入生物医学研究相关领域的博士课程。为此，我们提出了一个双管齐下的计划：(1)Pre-MARC部分（称为加州大学戴维斯分校生物学本科学者计划或BUSP） -一个面向大一和大二生物学学生的专业发展计划，其特点是结构化和具有挑战性的学术增强活动，学术和个人建议，以及早期的研究经验；(2)针对初高中学生的MARC学者计划，该计划将在BUSP计划的基础上，包括密集的研究经验和一系列活动，以提高学者的口头和书面沟通能力；让他们参与多学科研究主题、研究完整性和实验设计的讨论；为他们提供准备口头和书面科学报告的建议和经验；为他们提供拨款写作的经验；并在研究生申请过程中为他们提供指导。MARC学者计划的总体目标是增加在生物医学研究领域成功攻读博士或医学博士/博士学位的urm人数。我们的具体（可衡量的）目标是：(1)建立一个4年计划,将提供一个坚实的基础对于阶层学生进入并完成博士学位计划在生物医学科学(也就是说,他们将毕业至少参与主要的平均绩点3.0,得分在前50百分位GRE,获得专业知识作为学生研究对了解实验设计和数据解释,并获得经验,展示他们的研究地区和全国范围内(例如,在ABRCMS SACNAS)];(2)每年招收10名对生物医学研究感兴趣的初级荣誉医学博士（除了第一年，随着项目的扩大，我们将招收8名学生）；(3)至少有40%的MARC高级学者进入生物医学相关学科的博士（或医学博士/博士）课程（即平均每年4人，而busp荣誉课程为每年2.5人）。增加参与生物医学研究的urm的数量对于增加对当前许多健康问题（包括与种族和性别有关的健康差异）产生影响的思想和背景的多样性非常重要。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The UC Davis MARC Scholars Program will prepare underrepresented minority (URM) students to enter doctoral programs in areas related to biomedical research. For this, we propose a two-pronged program: (1) the Pre-MARC component (called the UC Davis Biology Undergraduate Scholars Program or BUSP) - a professional development program for freshman and sophomore biology students that features structured and challenging academic enhancement activities, academic and personal advising, and early experience in research; and (2) the MARC Scholars Program for junior and senior level students that will build on the BUSP program and include intensive research experiences as well as a series of activities that will enhance the Scholars' oral & written communication skills; engage them in discussions of multidisciplinary research topics, research integrity, and experimental design; provide them with advice and experience in preparing oral and written scientific presentations; provide them with experience in grant writing; and provide them guidance in the graduate school application process. The overall goal of the MARC Scholars Program is to increase the number of URMs who successfully pursue PhD or MD/PhD degrees in areas of biomedical research. Our Specific (and measurable) Aims are to: (1) establish a 4 year program that will provide a strong foundation for URM students to enter and complete a PhD program in an area of biomedical science [i.e., they will graduate with at least a 3.0 GPA in a participating major, score in the top 50th percentile on the GRE, gain expertise as a student researcher with respect to understanding experimental design and data interpretation, and gain experience in presenting their research both regionally and nationally (e.g., at ABRCMS, SACNAS)]; (2) recruit and admit into the MARC program, 10 junior honor URMs interested in biomedical research each year (except in year 1, when we will admit 8 students as we ramp up the program); and (3) have at least 40% of the senior MARC Scholars enter PhD (or MD/PhD) programs in biomedically related disciplines (i.e., an average of 4/year as opposed to 2.5/yr from the BUSP-honors program). Increasing the number of URMs involved in biomedical research is important for increasing the diversity of ideas and backgrounds brought to bear on many current health issues -- including racial and gender-related health disparities.