Four UC Santa Barbara students have been selected as the inaugural participants in a new initiative designed to enhance the way UCSB prepares its undergraduates for competitive graduate programs in biomedical research.

The program, Maximizing Access to Research Careers (MARC) Undergraduate Student Training in Academic Research (U-STAR), is led by Craig Montell, Duggan Professor of Neuroscience in UCSB’s Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, and Arica Lubin, professional development programs manager at the Center for Science and Engineering Partnerships (CSEP). The MARC scholars for 2015 are Alexandra Barajas (Chemistry ’17); Bianca Dunn (Microbiology ’17); Joseph Sanz (Chemistry ’17); and Jessica Wong (Chemical Engineering ’17).