The Hunter College MARC U*STAR Program serves a large and diverse public institution that has a student body predominantly composed of minorities and women. Our Program Goals are to increase interest of under-represented minority students in careers in biomedical research and to prepare them for successful entry into PhD programs. 23 Hunter MARC alumni have earned PhDs, with 8 occupying tenure track positions and 7 currently serving as staff scientists. 21 alumni are in PhD or MD/PhD programs, an increase from 8 registered in 1999. The mean number of students entering PhD programs has almost doubled in the previous 5-year funding cycle. An extensive evaluation program has identified areas that can be improved, and accordingly, we propose activities to allow us to meet specific objectives arising from three Specific Aims.
The first aim i s to expand and improve our admissions pool. The specific objective is to increase the applicant pool from 34 to 50 per year. This number will allow us to choose only the best and most interested candidates.
This Aim will be the responsibility of a new MARC Program Coordinator, Dr. Derrick Brazill, and will include expansion of a successful Introduction to esearch Program and a new Supplemental-lnstruction-based approach to entry-level Biology Courses.
The second aim i s to improve our record of success among Hunter MARC scholars. The specific objective is to increase from the current level of 17 to 26 new PhD entries in the next five year period. The third specific aim is to increase the number of MARC applicants with interested in quantitative biology and increase the number of graduates with experience in this area. The specific objective is to train 9 MARC scholars who will enter PhD programs in these fields in the next grant period. This part of the program will depend on activities designed to attract Math and Computer Science majors to Biomedical research and on the efforts of new mentors in these areas. Reaching these three objectives will significantly increase the impact of Hunter minority students on the practice of Biomedical sciences in the 21st century.
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