No longer listed by NIGMS; awards reported terminated in 2025 Checked November 7, 2026
- Mechanism
- T34 undergraduate institutional training grant (last announcement PAR-24-138)
- Who it serves
- Undergraduate honors students headed for PhD or MD/PhD programs
- Today
- Not on NIGMS's current program list. The undergraduate training grant NIGMS lists in 2026 is BURT.
Short answer
MARC was an NIGMS T34 training grant that supported undergraduate honors students, typically in their last two or three years, at research-intensive institutions to prepare for PhD or MD/PhD programs. It was formerly called MARC U-STAR. MARC awards were reported terminated in spring 2025, and as of November 2026 MARC is not on NIGMS's list of current programs.
What was MARC?
MARC was an NIGMS undergraduate training grant (T34) that paid for honors students to do sustained research during the last two or three years of a STEM bachelor's degree and move on to a PhD or MD/PhD program. In its later form, institutions appointed a cohort of trainees who received a stipend and tuition support, took part in research year-round and joined program activities such as seminars and conference travel.
The program was long known as MARC U-STAR. NIGMS announcements from 2019 onward used the name Maximizing Access to Research Careers (MARC). There was also a separate MARC T36 ancillary training activity in earlier years.
Who could take part?
Under PAR-21-147, the 2021 announcement:
- Institutions had to be domestic, bachelor's-granting and research-intensive, meaning NIH research project grant funding averaging at least $7.5 million a year. An institution could hold only one undergraduate diversity program, MARC or U-RISE.
- Trainees had to be US citizens, noncitizen nationals or permanent residents, enrolled full time in a STEM bachelor's program, usually supported for two to three years.
Institutions below the $7.5 million line used U-RISE instead. NIGMS reissued the MARC announcement as PAR-24-138 in March 2024.
What happened in 2025?
In late March and early April 2025, MARC directors reported that their awards were being cancelled, and program directors interviewed at the time believed the cuts were nationwide. Some termination letters for related programs said the awards no longer effectuated agency priorities. Some institutions were allowed to spend remaining funds and others were told to stop. As of November 2026 MARC does not appear on NIGMS's list of current training programs.
What is available instead?
The undergraduate institutional training grant NIGMS lists now is BURT, which uses a single funding line of $50 million a year rather than MARC's research-intensive rule, and adds a community college track. The program finder shows other options by career stage.
Questions people ask
What did MARC U-STAR stand for?
Maximizing Access to Research Careers Undergraduate Student Training in Academic Research. Later announcements used the shorter name Maximizing Access to Research Careers, or MARC.
Is there a MARC program I can apply to now?
Not through NIGMS. Some campuses may keep a similar honors research program with other funding, and the newer BURT T34 supports undergraduate trainees at institutions under $50 million a year in NIH research project grants.
I was a MARC scholar. How should I describe it on my CV?
Use the name your campus used at the time, for example "NIH/NIGMS MARC U-STAR Scholar, 2016–2018". The program's later end doesn't change what you did.
Sources
This profile is an independent summary, not an official NIH or NIGMS description. Eligibility and deadlines are set by the current funding opportunity; read it before you apply.