Trainee Benefits
Students selected to participate in the URI MARC U*STAR program – MARC Trainees – will receive the following benefits:
- Substantial tuition support during junior and senior years
- A monthly stipend during junior and senior years
- Funds for program approved travel to an annual scientific meeting or conference, such as the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minoritized Scientists (ABCRMS) or the National Diversity in STEM (NDiSTEM) Conference
- Funds for program approved housing and travel to undertake a 10-week external summer research experience at a research-intensive site other than the University of Rhode Island (see Summer Research Experience)
Trainee Expectations
As a MARC Trainee, you will be expected to carry out the following:
- During the academic year, perform approximately 12-15 hours of biomedical research per week in your faculty mentor’s research laboratory. As is the nature of biomedical research, some weeks you will work more than these hours and some weeks less, as your project demands
- During the summer between junior and senior years, trainees will perform full-time research (approximately 35-40 hours per week) as part of the external summer research experience at a research-intensive site other than the University of Rhode Island (see Summer Research Experience)
- Attend all URI MARC U*STAR trainee meetings and participate in all program activities as required
- Respond to all URI MARC U*STAR and related communications within a timely manner (24-48 hours)
- Acknowledge URI MARC U*STAR Program support in your scientific publications, abstracts, and presentations, and present us with copies of all MARC materials for reporting to the NIH (see Citing and Reporting)
- Present your scientific research project at our Annual MARC Symposium, held every spring semester
- Maintain a GPA > 3.0
- Provide the MARC Principal Investigator (PI) with information on your academic and post-academic career for at least five years following the completion of this award