The MARC U*STAR Scholars Program at the University of Houston-Downtown (MARC USP) is an innovative MARC program that brings together a creative Hispanic Serving Institution, the University of Houston-Downtown (UHD) with exceptional biomedical graduate programs in the world's largest medical center, the Texas Medical Center (TMC). The MARC USP leverages off the successful Scholars Academy (SA) at UHD. The SA has been successful in recruiting, retaining, and graduating underrepresented minorities for the last five years in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The two main goals of the MARC USP are the training of qualified pre-doctoral underrepresented minority students in biomedical sciences and the entrance of these students into strong biomedical doctoral programs across the country. Unique activities involved in achieving the goals of the MARC USP include: (1) three summers of undergraduate biomedical research at a local undergraduate and graduate schools and collaborating graduate schools across the country; (2) the creation of the Graduate School Family Symposium; (3) formation a Techniques in Biomedical Science Course; (4) formation of a GRE and Graduate School Preparation Course; and (5) yearly conference presentation experience. A special aspect of the biomedical undergraduate research tract is the pre-doctoral research program held at the University of Houston- Downtown, followed by a summer at the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, and ending with a summer undergraduate research program at the GSBS, Baylor College of Medicine, University of Houston, Texas A & M University, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine or the University of California at Berkeley. The end result of this five-year program will be the participation of a minimum of 75 students in biomedical science training, a 100% biomedical doctoral program application rate for MARC Scholars, and the entrance of at least 15 underrepresented minority doctoral students into top-quality biomedical sciences graduate programs. Pre and post-program assessment will be performed on the MARC Scholars and the various training activities by an outside evaluator ? ? ?
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