The University of the Virgin Islands has been awarded a $1.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to help spur minority students on to careers in research.
The five-year grant, which includes $403,000 for the first year, will help fund UVI’s Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) program. According to a UVI press release, the program is “designed to produce a diverse group of rigorously trained, motivated students who will compete for highly selective doctoral programs.”
Program Director Teresa Turner said UVI’s program was awarded funding in part because of its history of success. Since the program’s inception in 1992, 66 percent of UVI MARC graduates have enrolled in Ph.D. programs.
“It’s the best of both worlds,” Turner said, adding that MARC students enjoy the prestige of having attended leading research institutions while paying UVI’s significantly lower tuition.
Students who are part of the program are able to spend summers conducting research at partner institutions, including Johns Hopkins University, Boston University, Cornell, the University of Chicago, and Carnegie Mellon, among others.
According to the release, MARC funds provide tuition, travel, and stipends for research training for individual students. In addition, funding helps develop a rigorous curriculum for all UVI students in the biomedical and behavioral sciences, including training in research methods, scientific writing, research ethics, and development of a new Bachelor of Science degree program in psychology.
“The partnerships that our MARC students develop at the other schools are amazing,” Turner said. “Researchers at partner schools have made commitments to help these students go to graduate school.”
When UVI MARC data are compared with national data they are especially impressive. The Ph.D. Completion project of the Council of Graduate Schools reported that only 43 percent of black doctoral students in science, engineering and mathematics complete Ph.D.s within 10 years, and only 56 percent of white students complete Ph.D.s within 10 years.
In contrast, 90 percent of UVI MARC alumni completed Ph.D.s within the 10 years.
For information about UVI’s MARC program, contact Turner at 693-1382 or by e-mail.
