California State University San Marcos MARC U*STAR Program

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 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The CSU San Marcos MARC U-STAR Program has a strong record of success, with over 93% of MARC Scholars in recent years transitioning to graduate school, including PhD programs at Stanford, Yale, Harvard, Northwestern, UC San Diego and other top institutions. Given the past success and rigorous set of activities, renewal of this program will help increase the pool of underrepresented minority students who pursue research careers in the biomedical and behavioral sciences. We have three overall measurable objectives for the program, which are informed by our recent success: 1) 100% of MARC Scholars will graduate with a Bachelor's Degree; 2) 95% of MARC Scholars will enter graduate school in the biomedical or behavioral sciences; and 3) 80% of MARC Scholars will pursue a PhD program in the biomedical or behavioral sciences. We plan to achieve these objectives through eight goals: 1) to increase the pool of students eligible for MARC through a set of Pre-MARC activities, assure that our scholars participate in a laboratory-rich curriculum, enhance academic performance; 2) to assure that all MARC Scholars participate in a strong, laboratory-rich curriculum that prepares them for graduate study; 3) to enhance academic performance; 4) to enhance scientific communication skills; 5) to enhance experimental design and statistical analysis tools; 6) to empower students for success; 7) to participate in biomedical research; and 8) to prepare competitive applications for graduate school. Activities within these goals include participation in a challenging curriculum supported by a range of academic support services, skills development, research seminars, and supervised original research leading to scientific presentations and publications. Through these activities, Scholars will develop strong skills in critical thinking, problem solving, writing and oral communication, experimental design and statistics, and teamwork. We will select twelve Scholars to participate in the program in years 1 and 2 and fourteen Scholars in years 3-5. Our Evaluation Plan provides clearly stated goals and measurable objectives to assess project success. The commitment of CSUSM to diversity and to student development is in perfect alignment with the goals of the national MARC Program. This alignment, together with rapid student population growth (especially that of underrepresented minority students), the success of the current MARC Program, the supportive faculty, the experience of the program director, and new facilities with modern scientific instruments and powerful instructional resources, collectively make CSUSM an ideal location to operate a successful MARC Program.