Merck, AAAS Honor Research Programs

SAN FRANCISCO--Fifteen colleges and universities across the nation are winners of the 2007 awards for the Merck/AAAS Undergraduate Science Research Program (USRP), sponsored by the Merck Institute for Science Education (MISE) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Each award provides up to $60,000, paid over three years, for joint use by the biology and chemistry departments at each recipient institution.

This year's winners are Augustana College, Rock Island, Ill.; Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Mich.; Davidson College, N.C.; Lawrence University, Appleton, Wis.; Pomona College, Claremont, Calif.; Rhodes College, Memphis, Tenn.; St. Lawrence University, Canton, N.Y.; The College of New Jersey, Ewing; Truman State University, Kirksville, Mo.; University of Dayton, Ohio; University of Evansville, Ind.; University of Richmond, Va.; University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minn.; University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh; Wellesley College, Mass.

USRP 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 qualified 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.

Its goals are to:

• enhance undergraduate education through research experiences that emphasize the interrelationship between chemistry and biology;
• encourage students to pursue graduate education in chemistry and life sciences; and
• foster undergraduate programs and activities that bridge chemistry and biology.

The winners of this program are being announced during the 2007 AAAS Annual Meeting in San Francisco. For more information, visit the web site or submit questions to merck@aaas.org.

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.

Founded in 1848, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the world's largest general scientific society, serving 262 affiliated societies that reach 10 million individuals. AAAS is publisher of the journal, Science, which has the largest paid circulation of any peer-reviewed general science journal in the world, with an estimated total readership of 1 million. AAAS is a non-profit organization 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 the latest research news, log onto EurekAlert!, the premier science-news Web site, a service of AAAS.

16 February 2007