California State University, Bakersfield proposes to prepare underrepresented minority students for a future in biomedical research. The goal of the program is to dramatically increase the number of minority students who have an interdisciplinary preparation for graduate school in Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Mathematics, or experimental Psychology and ultimately for careers in biomedical research. The training program begins with a substantial pre-MARC component that includes comprehensive advising;interdisciplinary coursework in biology, calculus, chemistry, and computational methods for all students;academic support workshops and peer-study groups;and institutionally provided financial support of $1,000-$2,500 per year for up to 20 pre-MARC students (total support of $29,000). The training continues with a highly selective MARC U*STAR cohort, totaling 9 juniors and seniors, who will receive a substantial stipend. They will participate in extensive academic intramural researchfor two years, extramural research at a nationally recognized location, conference presentations at their home institution and at national scientific meetings, ethics training, and graduate school preparation. Specially developed coursework integrates computational and quantitative concepts into the science curriculum for all trainees and is available to other students as well. The following are proposed as specific measurable objectives: (1) To increase by 50% the number of underrepresented minority students who are admitted to graduate school in the supported disciplines. (2) To improve the preparation of our students for biomedical research by increasing by 50% the number of junior minority students in Biology, Chemistry, and Psychology who have completed two quarters of calculus;and tripling the number of minority Computer Science and Mathematics majors who have completed two quarters of Biology and Chemistry. (3) To increase the number of honors underrepresented minority students in the supported disciplines by 30%. (4) To improve retention and graduation rates among our program participants by halving the one and two year drop out rates;and increasing by 50%, the rate of retention to graduation. Evaluation of the project will be carried out on a continual basis and annually for all present and past MARC U*STAR trainees to ensure that the activities meet the goals and objectives of the program.
