University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus MARC Program is requesting funding to continue to provide its thirty four (34) undergraduate students with excellent opportunities to carry out research and to participate in program activities aimed at their professional development.
The first aim of this application is to increas the number of highly talented Biology and Chemistry undergraduates that will enter the arena of competitive biomedical research. To this end, each trainee will participate in mentored, hypothesis-driven research project, and will be provided with the necessary skills and tools. This will allow trainees to become highly productive students in any doctoral program in the country and to complete their studies in a manner that leads them to pursue postdoctoral experiences. The MARC Program will continue to organize frequent recruitment seminars, provide technical and professional workshops, as well as special courses directed toward strengthening the research capabilities and communication skills of all its students. It will assure that they attend seminars and take courses that create the knowledge base for their fields. It will also engender an atmosphere that assures that trainees become a cohesive group whose members not only assist each other, but promote doctoral research studies among their peers. In this respect it will seek to assure that 90 percent of its trainees pursue doctoral studies and do so successfully in outstanding research programs.
The second aim of this application involves activities that have already shown to have an impact on the numbers of UPR-Rio Piedras Biology and Chemistry majors who are capable of pursuing research careers. These include activities for incoming students that incorporate a Summer Math Immersion and a pre-Chemistry workshop that are designed to improve the academic performance of first-year students. These are followed by a first-year mentoring program that has been found to improve outcomes well beyond their first year. These activities will continue to assure an increased pool of science honor students.

Public Health Relevance

The University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus is requesting funds for the competitive renewal of its Maximizing Access to research career program and this includes 34 undergraduate students. The program will continue to develop and improve activities in a manner that will allow it to assure that 90% of trainees enter in biomedica related research doctorates. It will also assure that all of these students receive in front of the line preparation to compete successfully as effective researchers.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
Type
MARC Undergraduate NRSA Institutional Grants (T34)
Project #
5T34GM007821-38
Application #
9274300
Study Section
Training and Workforce Development Subcommittee - C (TWD-C)
Program Officer
Koduri, Sailaja
Project Start
1980-08-01
Project End
2020-03-31
Budget Start
2017-06-01
Budget End
2018-05-31
Support Year
38
Fiscal Year
2017
Total Cost
$904,381
Indirect Cost
$63,969
Name
University of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras
Department
Chemistry
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
143960193
City
San Juan
State
PR
Country
United States
Zip Code
00931
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