Cal State Fullerton MARC U*STAR Program

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The mission of the Cal State Fullerton MARC U*STAR Program is to prepare promising minority students for graduate school and a research career in biomedical or behavioral science. The success of the Program will be measured in the short-term by Scholar enrollment and retention in doctoral programs at respected U.S. universities and in the long term by their progress toward, and eventual entry into, research-oriented careers. Over the course of the funding period, we propose to have 70% of all Scholars enter high-quality doctoral programs. The short-term goals are to: 1) recruit, select and retain well-qualified students, 2) develop MARC Scholar's skills for doing scientific research, 3) improve MARC Scholars' written and oral communication skills, 4) prepare MARC Scholars academically for PhD or MD/PhD programs, 5) develop in MARC Scholars an understanding and appreciation of professional integrity issues encountered during a research career, 6) provide MARC Scholars with personalized career and academic advisement, and 7) prepare MARC Scholars for the demands of a research career as minority scientists. Many of these goals will be met as Scholars participate in laboratory research with a faculty mentor that culminates with the defense of a written thesis, achieve high grades in academically-challenging courses, including a proposed scientific writing and career- enhancement GE course, a one-semester-long Research Ethics course and a four-semester MARC Pro- seminar series, which focuses on Scholar development. To measure our short-term progress, the Program will use specially-developed assessment tools, forms, and e-journal entries. The mentors and Program Director will complete the forms, and the Scholars will create the e-journals. On a yearly basis, all MARC Scholars will be expected to improve to, or achieve at, Level 4-5 (scale 1-5) in laboratory performance, scientific skills, and oral and written communication abilities, so that by the end of their two-year participation in the Program they have shown improvement, or high achievement, in at least 75% of the measurable objectives. To measure long-term success, the Program will track all MARC graduates periodically by e-mail or phone as they progress towards their PhD degrees and beyond. The Cal State Fullerton MARC U*STAR Program will not only contribute to the success of the participating MARC Scholars in their research careers, but will have a broader impact on the participating departments and colleges at our institution via the enhancement of curricula and an increased richness in the student research environment. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The goals of the Cal State Fullerton MARC U*STAR Program are to 1) provide a complete research training experience to a select group of underrepresented, minority undergraduates, 2) place graduating Scholars in respected health-oriented (biomedical or behavioral) doctoral programs, and 3) ensure the success of each Scholar in a specified PhD program. Our MARC U*STAR Program will increase the number of highly-trained, minority scientists in the US who contribute to the immediate and long term health-related research concerns of our nation.