ABSTRACT The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) requests NIH/NIGMS support to continue its successful MARC U*STAR Training Program. We presently have 19 former trainees in some of top doctoral programs and 8 will enter in fall 2015, and we have a five-year 54% doctoral matriculation rate for trainees who complete MARC, with low attrition. Several activities accomplished on the active grant have been institutionalized and MARC has extended research access and academic success via several mechanisms throughout the university. The long-term goals of the UTSA MARC program are to provide exceptional training in research, professional development training, academic support and enhancement, and broadly impact the UTSA community to promote student success and doctoral program matriculation. The long term outcome of these goals is to increase the number of underrepresented individuals at the highest levels of the nation’s scientific and engineering biomedical workforce. The Specific Aims of the current proposal are: 1) Continue effective research, mentoring, professional development, and broader impact program components and refine as needed; continued components include extramural and intramural research, mentoring activities, the Summer Jumpstart, most individual professional development activities, and engagement in pre-MARC programs and populations; 2) Create a more effective Honors experience and obtain academic and administrative benefits for all MARC trainees through partnership with the UTSA Honors College; 3) Improve professional development training to better serve student needs by reorganizing our training sequence, enhancing training in critical thinking, intellectual property, grant writing/submission, implementing an individual development plan, and providing a more exhaustive foundation for success in the first year of doctoral training; and 4) Develop new Broader Impact activities to be carried out by the MARC program to broaden access to science and promote student retention, through activities such as implementing a pre-Biology BIOS summer workshop, training additional university funded undergraduate researchers, and partnering with the Office of Undergraduate Research to implement a Peer Mentoring program to help engage other undergraduates in research. The rationale of the UTSA MARC program is that by implementing the activities associated with these Specific Aims, which were developed in accordance with scientific literature and program evaluation, we will achieve the following major measurable outcomes for trainees who complete their MARC training: 1) The trainees will develop at least two strong letters of recommendation from research mentors, give two national conference presentations, and report increased confidence and confidence in their research skills. 2) 65% of trainees will matriculate into doctoral programs, the majority at T32 doctoral institutions. 3) The trainees will complete an Honors Thesis, honors coursework, ...