Purdue News
Purdue NewsFebruary 21, 1997
The recipients of the $12,000, one-year fellowships are Zenephia Evans of Macon, Ga. , who is studying biological sciences; Jeffery Merida of Grove Hill, Ala. , and Cassandra Phillips of West Lafayette , who are studying biochemistry and molecular biology; and James Perez of West Lafayette and Angela Ragin of Arlington, Va. , who are studying chemistry.
The fellowships are part of a four-year grant from the National Institutes of Health to increase the number of minority students earning doctorates in biomedical sciences, an area where minority graduate students are historically underrepresented, said Dwight E. Lewis, co-investigator for the grant and coordinator for minority affairs for the Graduate School. The grants will help doctoral students majoring in biology, biochemistry, molecular biology or chemistry during their first or last year of graduate study.
"America's once unchallenged pre-eminence in science and technological innovation is being overtaken by competitors throughout the world," Lewis said. "Although the educational opportunities of many Americans are restricted, those of African-Americans, Native Americans and Hispanics are drastically insufficient. Great strides must be made, not only to improve the educational standards and racial climate, but also to increase the numbers of those underrepresented persons who have been denied access to quality education, especially at the undergraduate level. We hope this new program will be able to increase the pool as well as help students of color matriculate through the system."
The NIH grant also will operate the "Summer Research Institute for Diversity in Biomedical Science." This year's session will be from June 8 through Aug. 2. Each of the eight-week programs during the next four years will give 20 African-American, Hispanic and Native American undergraduate students "hands-on" experience in the fundamental techniques used in modern cellular and molecular biology research.
The goal of the summer institute is to encourage students to pursue graduate studies in biomedical research. Joseph S. Francisco, professor of chemistry and co-investigator for the grant, said: "In order to increase the pool of students interested in biomedical research, we are developing a program that we hope will train students to be researchers. Many intelligent college students come into a lab in awe of the research experience. They very much enjoy the socialization as they are taught the techniques, but they often leave still in awe of the research enterprise."
The summer institute will include informal discussions with visiting lecturers, a Graduate Records Examination Preparation Series, computer workshops, and lectures on biological modeling, microbiology, biochemistry, and data analysis, as well as field trips to local and national laboratories.
The visiting lecturers program will enable faculty from other colleges and universities to come to Purdue to give seminars, meet with Purdue faculty, and do collaborative research. Purdue staff will travel to other institutions to share ideas and recruit students to Purdue's graduate programs.
CONTACT: Dwight Lewis, (765) 494-0945.
jmw/Lewis.fellows/no
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; e-mail, purduenews@purdue.edu
