UT Tyler Promotes Undergraduate Research and STEM Education with Summer Program
July 19, 2021
UT Tyler Office of Marketing and Communications
UT Tyler Promotes Undergraduate Research and STEM Education with Summer Program
Follow @UTTyler TweetJuly 19, 2021
Media Contact: Beverley Golden
Senior Director of Media Relations
Marketing and Communications
The University of Texas at Tyler
903.566.7303
The University of Texas at Tyler announced that three UT Tyler undergraduate students and one Tyler Junior College student are participants in the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation 2021 Summer Research Academy, under the mentorship of UT Tyler College of Arts and Sciences faculty.
The program, sponsored by The University of Texas System and supported by the National Science Foundation, is designed to provide research experiences to undergraduate students from underrepresented populations and encourage them to pursue graduate-level Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) studies. Both UT Tyler and TJC are community partners in the program.
Fellows are listed by hometown with their research area and faculty mentor(s).
GILMER – Rachel Leicher, biology, Lance Williams, PhD, chair and professor of biology, and Marsha Williams, MS, research associate.
PALESTINE – Kennedi Davis, biology, Lance Williams, PhD, chair and professor of biology, and Marsha Williams, MS, research associate.
TYLER – Risa Alger, chemistry, Dustin Patterson, PhD, associate professor of biochemistry, and Blanca Luviano, biology, Jon Seal, PhD, associate professor of biology.
Each student receives a fellowship stipend for their participation, and faculty mentors receive funding for supplies and materials to support their student’s research activities. In addition to their approximately 30 hours of weekly research and lab work, the fellows conduct several activities during the summer, including remote professional development workshops, poster preparation, professional and business etiquette, and one-minute elevator speeches about their research projects. They will give presentations of their research results next month at the academy’s conclusion.
Stephen B. Rainwater, EdD, UT Tyler chair and associate professor of computer science, serves as campus director of the UT Tyler LSAMP program. Gigi Delk, MS, UT Tyler senior adjunct lecturer in computer science and professor of computer science at Tyler Junior College, serves as the TJC campus director. Neil Gray, PhD, UT Tyler College of Arts and Sciences dean and professor of chemistry and biochemistry, serves in a supporting role on the program’s local advisory committee.
With a mission to improve educational and healthcare outcomes for East Texas and beyond, UT Tyler offers more than 80 undergraduate and graduate programs to 10,000 students. Through its alignment with The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler and UT Health East Texas, UT Tyler has unified these entities to serve Texas with innovative medical research, medical education and excellent patient care. Classified by Carnegie as a doctoral research institution and by U.S. News & World Report as a national university, UT Tyler strives to fulfill our primary missions of education, research and service.