Six undergraduate students from four Nebraska colleges and universities recently received the 2011 Richard Holland Future Scientist Award from the Nebraska Coalition for Lifesaving Cures.
The students received cash prizes totaling $2,700 Aug. 10 at the annual INBRE (Institutional Development Award (IDeA) Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence Program) conference in Grand Island.
The awards are named in honor of Richard Holland, an Omaha philanthropist and longtime supporter of research.
The students were judged in two categories representing oral and poster presentations of the research work they conducted this summer as part of the INBRE program.
The INBRE program is overseen by James Turpen, Ph.D., professor of genetics, cell biology and anatomy at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Dr. Turpen is the principal investigator of the $17.2 million National Institutes of Health grant that funds the program.
Established in 2001, the INBRE Scholars program was created to expose students to serious biomedical research and build a statewide biomedical research infrastructure between undergraduate and graduate institutions.
The students, referred to as INBRE scholars, enter the program after completing their sophomore year of college upon recommendation of their college professors.
Each undergraduate school nominates approximately three students a year for the program. Once in the program, the students are given two-year scholarships worth $11,000. The scholarship provides students with $2,500 during each of their next two undergraduate years and $3,000 during each of the two summers they are in the program.
The award winners are listed below.
Oral
1st place – Zachariah Holmes, Creighton University
2nd place – Michele Stretch, University of Nebraska at Kearney
3rd place – Sasankh BC, University of Nebraska at Omaha
Poster
1st place – Troy Hubbard, Creighton University
2nd place – Brooke Sullivan, University of Nebraska at Omaha
3rd place – Kelsey Augustin, Wayne State College