# MARC U*STAR at San Jose State University

> **NIH NIH T34** · SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $196,949

## Abstract

SJSU MARC U-STAR Program
ABSTRACT
The SJSU MARC U-STAR program has been committed to support underrepresented students for
nearly 30 years. As the new Program Director, Dr. Cleber Costa Ouverney, has inherited a
dedicated cohort of trainees, a highly-motivated group of mentors, and a committed administrative
staff who endorse the mission of this prestigious NIGMS program in its entirety. Of the 167 trainees
who have graduated from the program since 1988, 97% graduated with a BA/BS degree and 60%
continued into a post baccalaureate degree (MS, PhD, or MD/PhD). The number of PhD-seeking
trainees from our program has continuously increased over the six cycles of funding and we have
67 trainees who are either enrolled or have earned their PhD/MD-PhD degree. Nonetheless, areas
of improvement to our program have been identified by the former PD (Dr. Leslee Parr), Dr.
Ouverney, and the program evaluator and we address these improvements in this renewal
application. Overall, this proposal combines goals that will retain the strengths the program has
accumulated over decades while enhancing the recruitment and training of MARC trainees, while
better tracking our MARC fellows accomplishments for years to come. For instance, we included
innovative approaches that establish collaborative work with the IRACDA postdocs from Stanford
University who will provide additional mentoring to our trainees about various aspects of research
projects, research presentation skills, and preparation of applications to graduate school. Our
strong network with Summer Research Programs will serve as a bridge to our trainees to identify
laboratories to conduct their summer research experience. We also propose to increase visibility
of the program in our communities and have started to give talks at local school serving a large
number of URM students about the opportunities for research training at SJSU, such as MARC,
RISE and LSAMP programs. The strength of this program makes us certain that we can support a
larger cohort of students and we are requesting an increase of MARC trainees from 9 to 12. A
recent increase in hiring of faculty STEM tenure-track faculty and an increase in grants in the
MARC hosting departments have made many new laboratories ready to host more MARC
students.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9928981
- **Project number:** 5T34GM008253-33
- **Recipient organization:** SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Cleber Costa Ouverney
- **Activity code:** T34 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $196,949
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1988-09-28 → 2021-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9928981

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9928981, MARC U*STAR at San Jose State University (5T34GM008253-33). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9928981. Licensed CC0.

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