Looking Beyond Graduation

Three soon-to-be psychology graduates will be heading back to school — toward a future as biomedical researchers — thanks to the support and assistance of Cal State Fullerton’s Minority Access to Research Careers Program.

The MARC program, launched at Cal State Fullerton in 1996, exposes undergraduates to various types of research and the skills necessary to enter and succeed in graduate programs in the sciences. The program’s science focus reflects the university’s heightened emphasis on increasing student interest in the STEM — science, technology, engineering and mathematics-related fields — one of the university’s initiatives.

The program is currently supported by a five-year, $1.2 million National Institutes of Health grant and a two-year, $64,000 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant awarded to Amybeth Cohen, program director and professor of biological science.

Participants are required to complete specific science courses and attend weekly seminars where they hear from guest speakers and learn how to develop research presentation. Scholars conduct an average of 15 hours of research each week during the academic year and spend eight weeks in the summer working full time alongside a member of the university’s faculty. To complete the program, scholars undertake a research project that culminates in a senior thesis and defend their findings before a thesis committee at the end of the program.

MARC scholars receive a stipend, tuition and fees waivers, as well as funds for travel to local and national meetings and to support their research endeavors.

This year’s graduating MARC Scholars are:

• Adrienne Conant of Garden Grove, who will enter the social psychology doctoral program at the University of Michigan. While at Fullerton, she studied with Jennifer Trevitt, assistant professor of psychology, examining the motor and neurological aspects of how decisions are made.
• Ashley Watson of Fullerton has been conducting research in the lab of Eriko Self, professor of psychology, into visual perception, exploring the mechanisms of binding various visual features, such as color, shape, motion and size, using psychophysical methods. Watson next will attend Arizona State University and pursue a doctorate in the family and human development program.
• Joshua Pando of La Habra has been accepted into the graduate program in psychology at CSUF, so will be returning to his alma mater in the fall. His research with Trevitt has been focused on defining the relationship between the neurotransmitters adenosine and acetylcholine and how they affect one of the brain’s decision-making centers, the basal ganglia.

Forty-six undergraduate students have taken part in the program. Three new scholars will enter the program this fall, and three continuing scholars will spend the summer conducting research at Ph.D.-granting institutions.

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Media Contact:
Pamela McLaren, Public Affairs, 657-278-4852 or pmclaren@fullerton.edu