# MARC Honors Undergraduate Research Training Program

> **NIH NIH T34** · CITY COLLEGE OF NEW YORK · 2020 · $200,649

## Abstract

The goal of the proposed MARC U-STAR program is to further increase the number of qualified
underrepresented undergraduates who continue their education at the Ph.D. level in the biomedical
and behavioral sciences. The project will consist of activities that represent a coordinated program
that includes undergraduate recruitment, extensive research experience, and graduate school
preparation. These activities are centered around the College Honors Sequence, coupled with
specific courses for the MARC trainees to prepare them for the rigors of postgraduate training. In the
previous funding period we made significant progress in implementing a more stringent student
recruitment and selection process to screen out candidates interested in pursuing careers in
medicine or fields unrelated to biomedical research; increasing numbers of MARC trainees from City
College are now entering and completing doctoral programs in the biomedical sciences. Core goals
of our program remain student recruitment and selection, and advisement and preparation for
graduate school. We will recruit students for placement into the laboratories of faculty in the
departments of Biology, Biomedical Engineering, Chemistry & Biochemistry, Earth & Atmospheric
Science, Physics, and Psychology; the pool of mentors also includes faculty from the Sophie Davis
School of Biomedical Education. Students will be appointed for their final 2 years of undergraduate
study and will engage in mentored independent research, have regular advising meetings with their
mentor and the MARC program director and advisory committee, and will participate in professional
development seminars. We will also take advantage of initiatives by the City University of New York
to expand science infrastructure; for example there are now two new science buildings on the City
College campus, trainees interested in working on projects in structural biology have access to
state-of-the-art instrumentation for structural analyses of biomolecules at the New York Structural
Biology Center on the CCNY campus, and trainees interested in cancer research are able to take
advantage of opportunities created by City College's partnership with Memorial Sloan Kettering
Cancer Center. The implementation of the new MARC U-STAR program will benefit top science
students, both trainees as well as non-trainees, thereby meeting the goals of strengthening the
capability of the college to train students in the sciences, and enhancing their research training
experience at City College.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9932360
- **Project number:** 5T34GM007639-38
- **Recipient organization:** CITY COLLEGE OF NEW YORK
- **Principal Investigator:** JONATHAN B LEVITT
- **Activity code:** T34 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $200,649
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1978-06-01 → 2023-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9932360

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9932360, MARC Honors Undergraduate Research Training Program (5T34GM007639-38). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9932360. Licensed CC0.

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