|
|
NEWS
and Notes
- Dr. Edward R. Garrison,
an MBRS investigator at the Shiprock campus of Diné College
in New Mexico, was honored as the recipient of the Community College/Tribal
College Mentor award at the October 2000 SACNAS national meeting
in Atlanta, GA. Garrison, a member of the science faculty at Diné,
was recognized for creating an outstanding program for biology students
at the college.
- Dr. Carlos G. Gutierrez,
a chemistry professor and director of the MARC and MBRS programs
at California State University, Los Angeles, was the recipient of
the 2001 American Chemical Society (ACS) Award for Encouraging Disadvantaged
Students into Careers in the Chemical Sciences. The award, sponsored
by the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, recognizes individuals
who have stimulated minority student interest in chemistry, thereby
promoting their professional development as chemists or chemical
engineers. Gutierrez received the award and its $5,000 prize at
the ACS national meeting in San Diego, CA, in April.
- Dr. Laura J. Robles,
the MBRS program director at California State University, Dominguez
Hills (CSUDH), was elected as a member of the SACNAS Board of Directors
for 2001-2003. Robles is a professor of biology at the university.
- Dr. Maria Elena
Zavala, a professor of
biology and the MARC and Bridges to the Future program director
at California State University, Northridge (CSUN), was named a recipient
of the Wang Family Excellence Award from the California State University
(CSU) system. Zavala was recognized for her outstanding work with
students and was credited for mentoring more than 125 minority science
students at CSUN since 1993.
The Wang awards were established in 1998 by
CSU Trustee Stanley T. Wang to recognize faculty and administrators
who have "distinguished themselves by exemplary contributions
and achievements in their academic disciplines and areas of assignment."
Zavala was among five individuals who received
the award, which included a $20,000 prize, at the CSU Board of
Trustees meeting this past May in Long Beach.
- NIGMS and the
Indian Health Service (IHS) have
announced continued funding of the Native American Research Centers
for Health (NARCH) program. NARCH awards are designed to promote,
develop, and support centers that link the Native American community
with organizations that conduct health research. The program encourages
research on diseases and health conditions of importance to American
Indians and Alaska Natives. For more information on the second round
of applications being sought for NARCH awards, see the full announcement
on the NIH Web site at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-GM-02-001.html.
- The Society of Toxicology (SOT)
hosted a special 2-1/2-day program for 32
undergraduate minority students and 8 of their advisors at the annual
SOT meeting this past March in San Francisco, CA. The program, supported
in part by the MARC program, introduced participants to toxicology
and research careers and included a series of lectures, a special
poster session, meetings with representatives from academic programs
and summer intern hosts, and tips for successful graduate school
admission.
- The American Heart Association
has funding opportunities available for
research broadly related to cardiovascular function, disease, and
stroke or related to basic science, clinical science, bioengineering/biotechnology,
and public health problems. The deadlines for its national research
programs are in January and July. For more information, see the
American Heart Association's Web site at http://www.americanheart.org/research.
- Luis Campos,
a MARC undergraduate student at CSUDH, was named a recipient of
the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans to attend
the graduate school of his choice. Campos, a senior chemistry major,
plans to pursue a degree in organic chemistry and continue his postdoctoral
work at a research institution. The fellowship will provide Campos
with tuition and fees for up to 2 years of graduate study. He was
among 30 individuals selected to receive the award.
- Many participants in NIGMS' minority programs
spent this past summer performing research away from their home
institutions.
University of Arizona,
Tucson: Paul Hoover spent the summer performing research
at the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Lima, Peru; Anthony
Beas participated in the Summer Research Internship Scholars
Program at the University of California, San Diego; Kelli Randon
performed research in the Summer Undergraduate Research Experience
Program at Emory University in Atlanta, GA; and Jullyn Chargualaf
spent a month this summer in Mali, West Africa, at the Malaria
Research and Training Center, which is co-sponsored by the University
of Mali and the University of Maryland School of Medicine and
funded by the NIH Fogarty International Center (FIC).
Barry University in Miami, FL, participants
and their summer institutions: Eauly Brutigam, University
of California, Riverside; Melanie Camacho, Ivette Lopez,
and Raquel Peralta, University of the West Indies, Kingston,
Jamaica; Empress Hughes and Davecia Ragoonath, Colorado
State University, Boulder; Kevin Peterson, Stazione Zoologica,
Italy; Roody Pierre-Charles and Gessula Toussaint,
University of Florida, Gainesville; Wendy Saintval, Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY; and Christina Stujenske,
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta.
Teresa Ramirez, an MBRS program participant
at CSUDH, spent the summer at Royal Holloway, University of London,
with support from the NIH FIC Minority International Research
Training program.
Ifedayo Nicholson, a Bridges to the
Future program participant at Kingsborough Community College in
New York, spent the summer performing research in ecology at the
University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Six students and two faculty members from community
colleges participating in the Purchase College Bridges to the
Future program performed research at the State University of New
York (SUNY) Purchase College campus this summer. The participants
and their home institutions: Bianca Matos and Joelle
Rodriguez, Orange County Community College, Middletown, NY;
Kahlil Howard and Walter Soto, Dutchess Community
College, Poughkeepsie, NY; Mahboob Raman, Rockland Community
College, Spring Valley, NY; and Rita Guimaeres and professors
Leelavarti Murthy and Glenworth Richards, Westchester
Community College, Valhalla, NY. In addition to their work on
research projects, participants attended weekly meetings where
they shared research results, and they participated in two field
trips. The program concluded with formal research presentations
by the students and faculty participants.
Ten MARC undergraduate students from various
institutions spent the summer working in labs at the National
Institute on Aging in Baltimore, MD. The students and their home
institutions: Ursula L. Bailey, Lovie Grayson, and
Candace A. Jones, Tennessee State University, Nashville;
Kwaku N. Boakye, SUNY, College at Old Westbury; Lavonne
S. Hunter, City University of New York (CUNY), Hunter College;
Jawara Jefferson and Erica L. Kinney, University
of Maryland, Eastern Shore; Ana C. Macias, San Jose State
University, CA; Dania G. Medina-Emmanuelli, Pontifical
Catholic University of Puerto Rico; and Stephanie M. Thomas,
CUNY, York College.
- Among the student participants in NIGMS' minority
programs who received degrees recently are:
Three MARC undergraduate students at Barry
University received their bachelor's degrees and will enter Ph.D.
programs this fall. Ria Achong received a degree in biology
and will attend the University of Maryland, Baltimore County;
Elizabeth Honorat received a degree in biology and will
attend Emory University in Atlanta,
GA; and Wendy Saintval received a degree in mathematics
and will attend Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY.
Eight MARC program participants at California
State University, Los Angeles (CSULA), received bachelor's degrees
and will enter Ph.D. programs this fall. The students, their areas
of study, and graduate institutions are: Talib Davis, biochemistry,
University of California, San Diego; Ernest G. Cruz, chemistry,
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena; Nestor Franco,
chemistry, Texas A&M University, College Station; Rey David,
biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA); Jose
Cabrera, chemistry, University of California, Irvine; Yvonne
Herrera, chemistry, San Diego State University, CA; Jose
Nunez, chemistry, UCLA; and Tanya Porras, biochemistry;
UCLA.
Four MBRS program participants at CSULA received
degrees in June and will enter doctoral programs this fall. Trina
Gordon received a master's degree in psychology and will enter
the Ph.D. program in psychology at the University of Alabama,
Tuscaloosa; Robert Ramirez received a master's degree in
chemistry and will enter the Ph.D. program in chemistry at UCLA;
Shantanu Sharma received a bachelor's degree in chemistry
and will enter the Ph.D. program in chemistry at the California
Institute of Technology; and Charlly Kao graduated with
a bachelor's degree in biology and will enter the Ph.D. program
in molecular biology and biophysics at the University of Minnesota.
Five MARC undergraduate students at UCLA have
completed their undergraduate degrees. Robert Carrillo
received a bachelor's degree in cybernetics and is now a research
associate at the biotechnology firm Xencor; Karla Munoz
received a bachelor's degree in molecular, cell, and developmental
biology and will enter an M.D. program at Harvard this fall; Luis
Ontiveros received a bachelor's degree in biology and will
enter the M.D. program at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN;
Sarah Villa Dolan received a degree in biochemistry and
will enter the Ph.D. program in biochemistry at UCLA; and Jennifer
Woo Mendoza completed a degree in physiological science and
has received an NIH Intramural Research Training Award to perform
post-baccalaureate training at the National Cancer Institute.
Six MARC undergraduate students at Delaware
State University have completed bachelor's degrees. All received
scholarships to enter graduate school this fall. Wauldron Afflick
completed a degree in biology and will attend Cornell University
in New York; Terrence Lewis completed a degree in biology
and will attend the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill;
Cheryl Broderick completed a degree in biology and will
attend Indiana University; Mispa Gwanmesia completed a
degree in biology and will attend The Johns Hopkins University
in Baltimore, MD; Mekia Winder completed a degree in psychology
and will attend Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
in Blacksburg, VA; and Stacey Simon completed a degree
in biology and will attend Virginia Polytechnic Institute and
State University, in Blacksburg, VA.
- Many participants in NIGMS' minority programs
made presentations about their research at recent scientific meetings.
Two MBRS program participants at the University
of California, Irvine, shared top awards in the student poster
competition at the American Association for the Advancement of
Science annual meeting this past February in San Francisco, CA.
Rosemary Valencia was awarded first place in the life sciences
category for research she conducted on risk factors in coronary
heart disease; and Bryan Sommese shared the prize for his
research on the neuroprotective role of TGF-
in the rodent nigrostriatal system. Fellow MBRS participants Mabel
Cortes and Daniel Gomez received honorable mentions
at the meeting for their research posters.
Three MBRS projects from El Paso Community
College in Texas were presented at the 101st General Meeting of
the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) this past May in Orlando,
FL. The projects were presented by Alisa Chavez, Gustin
Elrod, Jose Hernandez, Jose Mendoza, and Jesus
Nunez. Elrod had previously received the undergraduate research
award at the annual meeting of the Rio Grande branch of the ASM
in Albuquerque, NM, in January.
Three MARC undergraduate students at Barry
University made presentations at recent meetings. Leisis Martino
and Wendy Saintval presented a poster on their research
at the Joint Mathematics Meeting in New Orleans, LA, in January
and Ria Achong made an oral presentation at the National
Conference on Undergraduate Research in Lexington, KY, in March.
- In recent months, we have received word about
the following current and former student participants in NIGMS minority
programs. • Paul Lamont Bryant, a former Bridges
to the Future program participant at North Carolina Central University
in Durham, received his Ph.D. in environmental sciences and engineering
from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has accepted
a research position with Proctor and Gamble in Cincinnati, OH. •
Bernard de la Cruz, a former MARC undergraduate student at
the University of California, Santa Cruz, received his Ph.D. in
biology from the University of California, San Diego, last fall
and is doing postdoctoral work at the Keck Graduate Institute in
Claremont, CA. • Michael Duncan, a former MARC undergraduate
student at Hampton University in Virginia, graduated in May with
a bachelor's degree in chemistry. He is the recipient of a 5-year
scholarship from the David and Lucille Packard Foundation and plans
to pursue a Ph.D. in medicinal chemistry at the University of North
Carolina, Chapel Hill. • Tammy Terrell Burroughs, a
former MBRS program participant at Fayetteville State University
(FSU) in North Carolina, earned a master's degree in biology in
May from the university. Burroughs participated in the Bridges to
the Future program while pursuing her degree at FSU. She plans to
enter a doctoral program in the fall of 2002. • Marquea
D. King, a former MARC undergraduate student at Delaware State
University in Dover, is pursuing her Ph.D. in toxicology at the
Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia
Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, VA. King
is currently serving as president of the Graduate Student Assembly
at the university and is a member of the Omicron Delta Kappa national
honor society. • Liz Reynoso Paz, a former MARC trainee
at San Jose State University in California, received a Ph.D. in
immunology from the University of California, Davis, in 2000 and
is currently doing postdoctoral research in biochemistry at the
University of California, Davis, School of Medicine. • Henry
Rodriguez, a former MBRS program participant
at Florida International University, has received the 2001 Sigma
Xi Young Investigator Award in the life sciences. The annual award
honors researchers within 10 years of their highest degree and carries
a $5,000 prize. Rodriguez is a molecular and cell biologist at the
National Institute of Standards and Technology, an agency of the
U.S. Department of Commerce. • Rashida Mawusi Shivers,
an MBRS program participant at FSU, has been awarded an Environmental
Protection Agency Minority Academic Institution Graduate Fellowship
to complete a master's degree in biology at the university. Shivers
is the first FSU biology major to receive an indi-vidual graduate
fellowship from a federal funding agency. She will receive 2 years
of support under the award.
We are always
interested in hearing about NIGMS minority program faculty, alumni,
and students. Photographs of your students, research labs,
and activities are also welcomed and encouraged. Please send information
to:
Editor
NIGMS Minority Programs Update
Room 1AS.25
45 Center Drive MSC 6200
Bethesda, MD 20892-6200
Tel: 301-496-7301
Fax: 301-402-0224
atheys@nigms.nih.gov
|
