Athens, Ga.
– Seven doctoral students at the University
of Georgia have received scholarships
worth a total of $43,500 from the Atlanta
chapter of the Achievement Rewards for College Scientists Foundation for the
2007-08 academic year.
The students were recognized for their studies in the
biomedical and health sciences at an awards ceremony and luncheon in Atlanta. The featured
speaker was Mary Brown Bullock, president emerita of Agnes
Scott College
and distinguished professor of China
studies at Emory University.
The ARCS Foundation was founded in Los Angeles in 1958 and is dedicated to
helping meet the country’s needs for scientists and engineers by providing
scholarships to academically outstanding university students. UGA recipients of
the award are selected through the UGA Biomedical and Health Sciences Institute.
This year’s ARCS Scholars represent the UGA departments of biochemistry and
molecular biology, foods and nutrition, genetics, microbiology, neuroscience
and pharmaceutical and biomedical sciences.
“While the monetary award of the scholarships provided by
the ARCS Foundation is greatly appreciated, it is the dedication and commitment
of the ARCS members and their continuing personal interest in present and past
recipients that is the real reward for UGA’s ARCS fellows,” said BHSI Director
Harry Dailey.
The UGA ARCS Foundation Scholars and their interests are as
follows:
- Geneva DeMarsis pursuing a doctorate in
biochemistry and molecular biology. She studies the molecular landscape
between the human lutropin receptor, a seven transmembrane receptor, and
its cognate signaling partner, the stimulatory G protein. The signal
transduction pathway is vital for normal reproduction in mammals and it
mechanisms have been conserved across the evolution of higher organisms.
- Sarah Eisenstein
is a Ph.D. candidate in the interdisciplinary neuroscience program
administered by the UGA Biomedical and Health Sciences Institute. She is
using an animal model to examine the relationship between cannabinoids,
the body’s own marijuana-like system, and psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia.
With her work, she hopes to eventually facilitate the development of new
drug therapies.
- Jillian Hurst
is pursing her Ph.D. in pharmaceutical and biomedical sciences. Her research centers around the
characterization of Regulator of G-protein Signaling (RGS) proteins as
therapeutic modulators of signaling pathways contributing to the
progression of ovarian cancer.
- Jodell Linder is pursing her
doctoral degree in genetics and is studying the effect of temperature on
immune function in insects. Advances in this field are critical for the
control of vector-borne diseases and agricultural pests.
- Dawn Penn is pursuing a Ph.D. in
foods and nutrition. She is a registered dietician and her doctoral
research focuses on the role of leptin, a hormone produced by the fat
cells in regulating fat cell growth using in vitro cell culture and models of genetic and diet induced
obesity.
- Norman Pollock,
as a Master’s student, demonstrated that competitive sports activity in
youth can favorably influence long-term bone health, years after
retirement from competitive sports. For his doctoral degree in foods and
nutrition, he is focusing on the role of obesity in bone strength.
- Laura Williams is pursuing a Ph.D.
in microbiology. She is studying the distribution and diversity of plasmids
in the foodborne pathogen, Salmonella
enterica.Plasmids are
extrachromosomal DNA elements that play an important role in the spread of
antibiotic resistance.
The Atlanta chapter of the
ARCS Foundation has awarded close to $2 million worth of scholarships to
students at the University of Georgia, Emory University, Georgia Institute of
Technology and Morehouse
College. Additional
information about the foundation can be found on the Web at www.arcsfoundation.org.
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