MARC U-STAR Program at Washington University in St. Louis

 描述（由申请人提供）：本申请要求更新华盛顿大学的MARC U-STAR培训计划。我们的计划的目标是提供严格的研究为基础的培训，以六个资助的学员在他们的大三和大四的多样化队列，以增加少数民族学生在全国顶级博士课程的代表性。我们寻求通过结构化的四年计划的发展和演变来实现这一目标，该计划为学员提供一个积极，个人和科学严谨的社区，使其茁壮成长。我们的教育使命是培养我们的学生批判性和独立思考，并有效地写作和谈论科学中的基本问题。我们的计划跨越了大学的所有四年，与marc资助的支持仅限于学生在他们的大三和大四。在大一，鼓励URM学生参加以研究为重点的研讨会，尤里卡，向学生介绍以研究为基础的科学的艺术和实践。在他们的第一年后的夏天，我们运行前大二U-STAR暑期课程，暴露~15名学生，大部分URM状态，全职指导的研究经验，与额外的学术，专业发展和社会活动圆了经验。在大二，我们鼓励学生继续他们的研究。在年底，我们选择我们的实习生。在接下来的两年里，所有学员继续在他们的家庭实验室和夏季研究，并参加新的，每周MARC U-STAR研讨会。在新项目主任的带领下，以下最近的举措加强了我们的培训计划和使命：1）每周一次的U-STAR研讨会，学生们在会上做科学报告; 2）在这个论坛上引入录像，以提高 学生讲座; 3）在日历年内举办三次U-STAR晚宴，以建立社区; 4）学员有机会接受模拟博士和MD/PhD面试;以及，5）学员有机会在临床查房中跟随医生-科学家，了解基础研究和临床实践之间的接口。通过这些举措，我们寻求培养我们的学生成为关键的，独立的科学家，谁能够有效地沟通的重要性和他们的研究的逻辑在口头和书面形式。我们支持的理由是，所有的URM学生在华盛顿大学都在高中学业优异，并有很高的潜力完成博士学位在他们选择的主题，但历史上我们的URM生物医学博士追求是不成比例地低-大约每年一个学生。因此，在华盛顿大学蓬勃发展的MARC计划可以在短期内增加研究生院一流的URM学生的数量，并在长期内帮助改变在学术研究的教授的人口统计。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application requests the renewal of the MARC U-STAR Training Program at Washington University. The objective of our program is to provide rigorous research-based training to a diverse cohort of six funded trainees in their junior and senior year in order to increase the representation of minority students in top PhD programs nation-wide. We seek to accomplish this goal via the development and evolution of a structured four-year program that provides trainees with a positive, personal, and scientifically rigorous community in which to thrive. Our educational mission is to train our students to think critically and independently and to write and speak effectively about basic questions in science. Our program spans all four-years of college, with MARC-funded support restricted to students in their junior and senior year. In the freshmen year, URM students are encouraged to participate in a research-focused seminar, Eureka, that introduces students to the art and practice of research-based science. During the summer after their first year, we run the pre- sophomore U-STAR summer program that exposes ~15 students, most of URM status, to a full-time mentored research experience, with additional academic, professional development, and social activities rounding out the experience. In the sophomore year, we encourage students to continue their research. At the end of the year, we select our trainees. Over the next two years, all trainees continue research in their home labs and over the summer and attend the new, weekly MARC U-STAR seminar. Spearheaded by the new program director, the following recent initiatives have enhanced our training program and mission: 1) a weekly U-STAR Seminar at which students give scientific presentations; 2) the introduction of videotaping to this forum to enhance student talks; 3) three U-STAR dinners during the calendar year to build community; 4) the opportunity for trainees to undergo mock PhD and MD/PhD interviews; and, 5) the opportunity for trainees to shadow physician-scientists on clinical rounds to learn about the interface between basic research and clinical practice. Through these initiatives, we seek to train our students to become critical, independent scientists, who are able to effectively communicate the importance and logic of their research in oral and written form. Our rationale for support is that all of the URM students at Washington University have excelled academically in high school and have high potential to complete the PhD in their subject of choice, yet historically our URM biomedical PhD pursuits are disproportionately low - roughly one student per year. Thus, a flourishing MARC program at Wash U can in the short term increase the number of top-notch URM students in graduate school and in the long term help transform the demographics of the professoriate in academic research.