Calvin Earns Prestigious Science Grant

April 17, 2008 == MEDIA ADVISORY

Summary: Calvin has earned a prestigious grant to expand research
opportunities in the sciences.

Full story see http://www.calvin.edu/news/releases/2007-08/beckman-grant.htm

Calvin College has won a prestigious $77,000 grant from the Beckman Scholars
Program to give expanded, intensive research experiences to a handful of Calvin
students. The grant was awarded by the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation,
which funds programs in chemistry and the life sciences at non-profit
institutions.

"This grant is going to fund four students on a very significant research
experience at Calvin," said Calvin chemistry professor Ronald Blankespoor.

The three-year Beckman grant allows Calvin to choose one student this year and
three others over the next two years to engage in 15 months of research in
chemistry, biology or biochemistry. The scholar will pair with a faculty
mentor in her or his chosen discipline: biology, chemistry or biochemistry.

Much is expected of the students who will bear the title. The scholar will make
a research proposal, work independently to complete the research project and,
eventually, publish the results in a peer-reviewed journal.

The students will be paid $16,000 over the entire 15-month period—a significant
boost in income for a student researcher, Blankespoor said. The culmination of
the project for each scholar is a special summer gathering in California where
the Beckman Scholars will make presentations of their work.

The Beckman opportunity is not only a rare honor for the students chosen for
the program, said Blankespoor, it is a signal honor for Calvin as well.
Colleges and universities cannot simply apply for the Beckman Scholars Program;
application comes via invitation only, and the invitation list included only
125 institutions this year.

Calvin was among a mere 15 institutions chosen to participate in 2008, along
with Bates College, Boston University, Georgia Institute of Technology,
Georgetown University, Haverford College, Hope College, Indiana University,
Lewis and Clark College, Middlebury College, Northern Arizona University, the
University of Delaware, the University of Kentucky, University of North
Carolina–Chapel Hill and Vanderbilt University.

"It really is an endorsement of the undergraduate research program at Calvin,"
Blankespoor said.

Contact Blankespoor at blan@calvin.edu
Full story see http://www.calvin.edu/news/releases/2007-08/beckman-grant.htm

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Received on Thu Apr 17 13:13:46 2008