The trustees of the Gates Cambridge Trust awarded a scholarship to Donnie Johnson on the basis of her intellect, her leadership capacity and her desire to use her talents and knowledge to improve the lives of others throughout the world. This aptly describes Donnie, an active participant in Penn’s McNair Scholars Program since 2008 and a Dean’s List honoree her entire college career. Donnie will be graduating this May with a major in Psychology and a minor in the Biological Basis of Behavior. Her particular area of interest is neuropsychology, which focuses on the relationship between brain and behavior. She brings her interest and expanding knowledge in this area to her work with children who exhibit autism spectrum disorders (ASD), characterized by pervasive abnormalities in social interactions and communication as well as severely limited interests and very repetitive behavior. Donnie began as an intern in 2008 and now serves as a research assistant under Dr. David Mandell in the Center for Autism Research at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. During the summer of 2009, Donnie gained an international perspective on how autism is viewed and treated in other countries by participating in the Minority Health and Health Disparities International Research Training Program (MHIRT) funded through the National Institutes of Health. Donnie spent twelve weeks in Romania conducting public health research on the experiences of parents with autistic children especially among the minority Roma people also known as Gypsies.

The Gates Cambridge Scholarship Program is very competitive. Citizens from any country outside the United Kingdom may apply. The trust seeks to award approximately 100 scholarships annually with fewer than half awarded to US applicants. Donnie was among the 29 American students awarded scholarships in 2010. All recipients must first be admitted to Cambridge in accordance with the University’s regular admissions policies and procedures. The Trust does not admit students. The scholarship covers the full cost of studying at Cambridge including all tuition and fees, a maintenance allowance and airfare to and from Great Britain. Once in residence, Gates Scholars may apply for additional financial assistance to help cover the costs of attending conferences, undertaking fieldwork and other activities.

There are approximately 250 Gates Scholars in residence at Cambridge at any one time. Donnie is one of three Penn students awarded a scholarship this year. The students may apply to study any subject offered at the University and upon admission engage in full-time intensive graduate study while becoming fully integrated into the University and its Colleges. Since 2001, there have been more than 800 Gates Cambridge Scholarships awarded to students from 85 different countries. Upon graduation, Scholars join Cambridge’s widespread and influential alumni network. There are over 550 Gates Alumni spread throughout the world, all of whom are members of and are represented by the Gates Scholars’ Alumni Association.

Donnie was admitted to the MPhil degree program in Medical Sciences (psychiatry) at Cambridge, and she intends to continue her study of autism at the University’s Autism Research Centre. Her principal focus will be the prevalence of synesthesia in individuals with autism. After completing Master’s degree, Donnie plans to earn a PhD in clinical psychology and continue to do research and provide behavioral therapy to children. Donnie Johnson is a one of many outstanding McNair Scholars that the entire McNair Scholars and TRiO communities may point to with pride.

Dr. Taylor is a higher education veteran who comes to The Chicago School’s newest campus* from Howard University, where he spent more than three decades as a faculty member and senior administrator. As a national leader in graduate and professional education and a familiar fixture in Washington higher education circles, he emerged as the ideal inaugural president of our first campus on the East Coast.

As Howard University’s vice provost of research and Graduate School dean, Dr. Taylor played a significant role in ensuring that university’s continued national leadership as a diverse institution that produces, among many groups, more African-American on-campus Ph.D. recipients than any research university in the United States.

Dr. Taylor has served as president of the Northeastern Association of Graduate Schools, the National Communication Association, and the Consortium of Social Science Associations (COSSA), and the board chair for the Council of Graduate Schools. He earned a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan and is the author of numerous articles, chapters, and books. He has received honorary doctorates from Purdue University, Indiana University, The Ohio State University, Hope College, DePauw University, Denison University, and Southern Connecticut State University.

Additional information can be found at the program website.
*Pending approval from accrediting bodies

From left to right: Wuroh Timbo received the McNair Scholars of Promise Award, Mahsa Parvizi was presented the Spirit of McNair Award, and fellow McNair Scholars selected Oscar Romero a "leader of leaders.

Family and friends of the 2009 University of Delaware McNair Scholars gathered in Clayton Hall on Thursday, Aug. 13, to celebrate the accomplishments of McNair Scholars, both past and present.

The University’s McNair Scholars Program, which is designed to prepare talented and diverse students for graduate school, is the only program among 179 in the country to have achieved a perfect record of placing 100 percent of its students in competitive graduate schools around the world since it began 10 years ago. Most McNair Programs place about 38 percent of their graduates into graduate program.  This year, UD’s graduating cohort includes students who will be studying at Cornell, Stanford and Indiana universities, as well as UD, and all the scholars have received substantial financial awards for study.

Tom Apple, provost and professor of chemistry and biochemistry, started the evening off by addressing all the McNair Scholars: “I’ve always had a great time interacting with McNair Scholars in the summer. I’ve always found it incredibly stimulating to meet these incredible people, and it’s especially fun that in tonight’s program we’re going to have some of our previous cohorts here.”

One of those previous scholars was Christopher Rivera, the evening’s keynote speaker and one of the original McNair Scholars at the University of Delaware. Rivera is the most recent UD McNair alumnus to complete his doctoral studies.

“This is an honor and it’s very overwhelming,” Rivera said. “Being a part of the original McNair Scholars, I feel in some way tied to all of you.”

Rivera talked about some of the struggles he has encountered in his life and said one of his favorite books as a child was The Little Engine that Could. Rivera said he kept the book’s famous mantra in mind throughout his life’s ups and downs. “The message that I learned from The Little Engine that Could is actually not that ‘I think I can, I think I can.’ It’s ‘I know I can, and I will.'”

After dinner, the McNair Legends, McNair Scholars from the past 10 years shared some of their memories of the program, each expressing gratitude towards the McNair Scholars Program.

Former McNair Scholar Angela Dickinson said, “Looking back, I can say that this experience truly helped me. It pushed me to work harder to make the improvements that I needed.”

Maria Palacas, McNair program director, presented awards to this year’s students who completed the program, giving each student a nickname, such as “Shenise Edwards, McNair’s illustrious Caribbean princess,” while showing a funny picture of the student on an overhead projector as they walked to the front of the room to accept their award.

Next Palacas recognized the McNair award winners.

Amy Griffin, assistant professor of psychology, won the Juan Villamarin Mentor of the Year Award. Mahsa Parvizi, a senior in biological sciences and psychology, received the Spirit of McNair Award.

The staff and faculty next selected a scholar who represents collegiality and the recipient of that award was Josefina Ayllon-Ayllon, a junior in foreign languages and literatures, Latin American studies and women’s studies.

Oscar Romero, a senior in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, was recognized by the votes of his fellow McNair Scholars as, according to Palacas, “a leader of leaders,” and Wuroh Timbo, an Honors junior in biological sciences and psychology, received the McNair Scholar of Promise Award.

The research presentation awards were next, with the third place poster award going to Parvizi, the second place poster award going to Leah Putman, a senior in biomedical engineering, history and mechanical engineering, and the first place poster award going to Manuel Rafael Diaz Jimenez, an Honors senior in chemical engineering.

The final awards given were the oral presentation awards. Third place went to Denise Arreola, a junior in criminal justice, legal studies and sociology; second place went to Yael Hernandez, a senior in music education and jazz studies, and first place went to Melissa Skolnick, a senior in journalism, sociology and Spanish.

Anand Sunny Narayanan may be the first person in his family to attend college in the United States, but he has no small ambitions.

The West Virginia University McNair Scholar aims to some day work for NASA researching new devices and tools that allow for easy monitoring of astronauts’ health vitals while on expeditions.

Narayanan, a WVU junior double majoring in mechanical engineering and biology, is getting a head start on his future career through research for a chemotherapy drug detection biosensor using small strands of DNA. He recently presented his research at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students in Phoenix.

Through WVU’s Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program, Narayanan Потолки has been working with Peter Gannett, professor and associate chair of Basic Pharmaceutical Sciences at WVU, on his research.

Together, they hope to create a sensor that would easily and accurately determine the concentrations of the common chemotherapy drug cisplatin in a patient. The sensor would let doctors know 17th when to reduce the and drug dosage being administered to the patient, which in turn can lessen Image. the painful side effects.

“The topic itself is incredibly interesting to me, not just from an intellectual standpoint, but also from the standpoint of wanting to potentially reduce the pain these chemotherapy patients experience,” said Narayanan, who is originally from Germany but moved to Morgantown with his family in 1997.

Based on his research abstract, Narayanan received a $1,500 travel award to attend the biomedical research conference. The research conference is the largest professional conference for students involved with biomedical/behavioral sciences. Students from more than 285 U.S. colleges and universities were invited to participate.

Narayanan’s experience at the conference gave him an opportunity to discuss his research in detail, learn about graduate schools and improve his overall presentation skills.

“It was an honor to be there and represent West Virginia University’s McNair Scholars Program,” Narayanan said. “The program has been an excellent portal in terms of making research at a National lab of my interest accessible to me, as well as providing great help and support towards my graduate school pursuits. It has certainly assisted me to grow into a more well-rounded individual.”

The cheap nba jerseys McNair to Scholars Program, which is now accepting applications for its 2010 summer research internship, is designed to help undergraduate, low-income, first-generation or underrepresented college students earn doctoral degrees.

Students in the program are given cheap jerseys a $2,500 cheap jerseys annual stipend, graduate school placement assistance and professional development opportunities to help them gain admission into master’s and doctoral degree programs.
To be eligible for the program, students must cheap nfl jerseys have completed their sophomore year of study by May 2010, be enrolled in an undergraduate degree program full-time, have a minimum cumulative GPA of a 3.0 and be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident.

For more information on the program or to download an application, visit http://www.wvu.edu/~mcnair.