BOSTON — Fourteen colleges and universities have been selected for awards from the Merck/AAAS Undergraduate Science Research Program. Sponsored by the Merck Institute for Science Education (MISE) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the program awards provide up to $60,000, paid over three years, for use by the biology and chemistry departments at the recipient institution.
This year’s winners are Boise State University, Boise, Idaho; Claflin University, Orangeburg, S.C.; Colorado State University, Pueblo, Colo.; Francis Marion University, Florence, S.C.; Gustavus Adolphus College, Saint Peter, Minn.; Juniata College, Huntingdon, Pa.; Muhlenberg University, Allentown, Pa.; North Carolina A&T University, Greensboro, N.C.; Northern Michigan University, Marquette, Mich.; Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, N.Y.; Roger Williams University, Bristol, R.I.; Union College, Schenectady, N.Y.; University of the District of Columbia, Washington, D.C.; University of Tulsa, Tulsa, Okla.
The Merck/AAAS Undergraduate Science Research Program is a competitive program available in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Up to 15 awards are made annually. Launched in 2000 as a national competition, the 10-year, $9 million initiative is funded by MISE and administered by AAAS. The program is open to institutions in the United States and Puerto Rico that offer an American Chemical Society-approved program in chemistry and confer 10 or fewer graduate degrees annually in biology and chemistry combined.
Funding supports research stipends for undergraduate students and ancillary programs that encourage research collaborations between biology and chemistry departments.
The Merck Institute for Science Education (MISE) is a tax-exempt private foundation established in 1993 to improve science education in the public schools. Now expanded to include college and graduate-level education, MISE works to build capacity in the biomedical sciences through partnerships with education institutions.
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the world’s largest general scientific society, and publisher of the journal, Science (www.sciencemag.org). AAAS was founded in 1848, and serves 262 affiliated societies and academies of science, reaching 10 million individuals. Science has the largest paid circulation of any peer-reviewed general science journal in the world, with an estimated total readership of 1 million. The non-profit AAAS (www.aaas.org) is open to all and fulfills its mission to “advance science and serve society” through initiatives in science policy; international programs; science education; and more.
For more information about the Merck/AAAS Undergraduate Science Research Program, send questions to merck@aaas.org or visit the Web site at http://www.merckaaasusrp.org.