STEM Transition And Retention (START) Programs

Are you a first- or second-year student interested in learning more about biomedical research as a career while getting to know other students and faculty? Read more to find out if joining a START advisory group is right for you.

START Biomedical Research Career Advisory Groups

Vanderbilt is committed to the academic success of all students in the sciences through START. We invite any interested freshmen or sophomores, especially students from under-represented groups in the sciences, to join a START advisory group. Advisory groups will meet a few times each semester to learn about research opportunities at Vanderbilt, to discuss career paths in the biomedical sciences, and to foster research participation. We anticipate that START cohorts formed in the fall will continue to meet throughout next year.

START Summer Research Fellowships

We also offer competitive START Summer Research Fellowships for rising sophomores interested in contributing to diversity and inclusion in STEM. START Summer Scholars will receive mentorship and funding to participate in a 9-week intensive summer research experience in a Vanderbilt biomedical research laboratory for the summer between their first and second years.

Applications

The application for Summer 2025 will open in early December.

For questions, please contact VandyMARC@vanderbilt.edu.

2024-2025

For Summer 2024, 25 Vanderbilt students (many rising sophomores) from diverse backgrounds successfully engaged in 9 weeks of intensive summer research, mentoring, and career development. START was excited to welcome three students from the Psychology Summer Research Program. Projects ranged from structural biology, to tissue engineering, to circadian rhythms in bees. START students engaged with the Vanderbilt Summer Science Academy and met biweekly for enrichment sessions, including presentations from the Career Center and the Vanderbilt office for Experiential Learning & Immersion Vanderbilt. Students wrote and edited abstracts of their work with help from graduate students and attended a workshop on best practices for poster and oral presentations. The MARC/START Summer Symposium was a highlight with 45 oral and poster presentations from the MARC and START Scholars, Beckman Scholars, and several affiliated students. It was an exciting day to learn from each other and celebrate our accomplishments!

In November of 2024, four START Summer Scholars traveled along with the MARC Scholars to Pittsburgh, PA to attend the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS), the largest undergraduate research meeting on the United States.  There, they presented their research, attended lectures by preeminent scientists, met with representatives of graduate and professional programs from myriad universities, and networked with faculty and students from across the country. The Scholars were accompanied by Dr. Kathy Friedman and MARC mentor Christina Chavez. Nate Kreuzer (MARC, class of 2026) won a presentation award for his poster!

For more information or to apply, please contact  VandyMARC@vanderbilt.edu