NC State Selected as a 2021 Beckman Scholars Program Awardee
NC State’s Chemistry of Life program has been named by the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation as a 2021 Beckman Scholars Program award recipient. The award will provide six undergraduate students with $21,000 each for a full academic year and two summers of undergraduate research. The award also comes with additional funds for mentor support and travel.
The Beckman Scholars Program is dedicated to providing research experiences for exceptionally talented, full-time undergraduate students in the chemical and life science fields.
“We are thrilled to have been selected for this prestigious program and look forward to building our undergraduate training program at the interface of chemistry and biology,” said Joshua Pierce, an associate professor of chemistry and LORD Corporation Distinguished Scholar at NC State who will direct the program. Pierce, also a co-director of the Comparative Medicine Institute (CMI), serves as the director of the Chemistry of Life Program, which aims to improve training and research for chemistry and the life sciences through development of innovative coursework, undergraduate and graduate training, and the strategic growth of key research faculty across NC State.
The NC State Beckman Scholars Program will be an expansion of the CMI’s Summer Interdisciplinary Research Initiative and involves 10 faculty mentors from across four NC State colleges. As part of this mentorship program, scholars will participate in workshops in team science communication and team leadership skills, present work at a national/international conference and jointly submit research results with their mentors in a peer reviewed scientific journal. Awardees will also perform research activities during the academic year and over two consecutive summers.
The Beckman Foundation is dedicated to aiding young scientists doing cutting-edge research in chemistry and the life sciences.
