The UC Berkeley MARC: Leadership and Innovation in the Biological Sciences.

描述（由申请人提供）：加州大学伯克利分校是一所杰出的研究机构，但存在一个问题：一小部分未被充分代表的少数民族（URM）学生主修生物学，利用生物科学研究的优势，并以优异成绩毕业。在过去的五年中，只有不到10%的URM本科生获得了生物学学位（Berkes, 2008）。非裔美国人和墨西哥裔拉丁裔学生参与STEM学科研究的比例低得惊人，分别为7%和13%。最后，在过去的五年里，URM的学生只占所有生物科学荣誉课程的4%。加州大学伯克利分校MARC U-STAR项目的目标是弥合伯克利分校优秀的研究环境与加州大学伯克利分校对生物科学感兴趣的学生尚未开发的潜力之间的差距。我们将1)根据本科学者的背景提供有效的辅导和建议，通过生物学者计划（BSP）提高他们的学业成绩；2)让这些学者在大一和大二的时候接触到生物医学研究的好处、社会相关性、兴奋感和多种职业机会；3)通过雇佣他们进行长期的独立研究来减少他们的经济拮据。提议的加州大学伯克利分校MARC计划将由两个主要部分组成：MARC预计划和MARC学者计划。MARC预科项目的目标是利用生物学学者项目现有的项目优势，以及创新的密集研究预科课程，为MARC学者项目培养大量合格的申请者。MARC学者计划的目标是培养一批生物科学领域的创新领袖，他们将是实验室技术方面的专家，同时也将对研究文化有深刻的理解，并为他们提供博士后的选择。在拟议的加州大学伯克利分校MARC项目过程中，26名未被充分代表的学生将接受为期两年的MARC学者项目的强化研究培训和指导，并作为对教学、服务和研究充满热情的创新青年科学家进入顶级博士项目。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): U.C. Berkeley is an outstanding research institution with a problem: a small percentage of underrepresented minority (URM) students are majoring in Biology, taking advantage of research in the Biological Sciences and graduating with Honors. In the past five years, less than 10% of the URM undergraduate population has graduated with a degree in Biology (Berkes, 2008). African-American and Chicano-Latino students participate in research in the STEM disciplines at alarmingly low rates - 7% and 13% respectively. Finally, URM students made up only 4% of all biological science Honors programs in the past five years. The objective of the U.C. Berkeley MARC U-STAR program is to bridge the gap between Berkeley's outstanding research environment and the untapped potential of URM students interested in the biological sciences. We will 1) provide effective tutoring and advising tailored to the backgrounds of our undergraduate scholars to improve their academic performance through the Biology Scholars Program (BSP), 2) expose the Scholars as freshmen and sophomores to the benefits, social relevance, excitement, and multiple career opportunities in biomedical research, and 3) reduce their financial constraints by employing them to conduct long-term independent research. The proposed U.C. Berkeley MARC program will consist of two major components: a pre-MARC program and the MARC Scholars program. The goal of the pre-MARC program will be to utilize the existing programmatic strengths of the Biology Scholars Program in addition to an innovative intensive research pre-course to generate a large pool of qualified and committed applicants to the MARC Scholars Program. The goal of the MARC Scholars program will be to produce a cohort of innovative leaders in the Biological Sciences who will be experts in lab techniques, but who will also have a deep understanding of the culture of research and the options available to them post-Ph.D. During the course of the proposed U.C. Berkeley MARC program, twenty-six underrepresented students will undergo the intensive research training and mentoring of the two-year MARC Scholars Program, and enroll in top-tier Ph.D. programs as innovative young scientists with a passion for teaching, service and research. RELEVANCE: There is a staggering need to increase the number of biomedical researchers and faculty members from underrepresented backgrounds. The U.C. Berkeley MARC U-STAR program will generate 26 outstanding biomedical researchers from underrepresented backgrounds who will develop new technologies, identify novel drug compounds and create interventions to improve the health of their communities and the nation.