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FIRST Alumnae Receive NIH Funding
Program Update
Annual IRACDA Conference
Fellows' Monthly Seminar Series

FIRST Fellows Receive Faculty Appointments
Article
About FIRST Published In the Journal of College Science Teaching, May, 2005


FIRST Alumnae Receive Major Funding

Dr. Sarah Brosnan – an Assistant Professor at Georgia State University, was awarded a grant from NSF for $514,658 which began 10/01/07, 1 month after she started her faculty position at GSU. This was her first grant application and she actually wrote the grant while still in the FIRST program in anticipation of the start of her faculty position at Georgia State; see http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward.do?AwardNumber=0729244.

Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Morehouse College, Dr. Lance Shipman received a NSF Research Initiation grant, and an NIH MBRS SCORE grant. (For complete article see: http://www.morehouse.edu/academics/HBCU_UP/PDF/LShipmanFacultySpotlight.pdf).

Assistant Professor of Biology at Haverford College, Dr. Andrea Morris, who finished the FIRST program in 2003, received an NIH grant for "Sonic the Hedgehog."  The five-year grant—the first of its kind awarded to a faculty member at a small liberal arts college—supports Morris’ exploration into the molecular mechanisms of visual system development, focusing on a particular gene called, yes, “sonic hedgehog” and its role in retinal axon guidance which is the process of connecting the eye to the appropriate parts of the brain that allow for visual perception. (For the complete article see: http://www.haverford.edu/news/stories/861/51.)

Dr. Valerie Haftel, Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at Morehouse College, has been awarded the Department of Education Minority Science Improvement grant. The grant, entitled "Enhancement of Interdisciplinary Science", begins in October of 2007, and lasts until September of 2010 for a total budget of $476,000. Valerie also completed the FIRST program in 2003.  (For the complete article see: http://www.morehouse.edu/academics/bio/news.html.)

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Program Update

FIRST has accepted 12 candidates into the program for the 2008-2009 fiscal year - M. Berenice Duran, City University of New York Graduate Center, Hunter College; David Glover, University of Alabama–Birmingham; Frederick Gregory, UCLA; Jerris Raiford, Drew Kohlhorst and Jamie LaPrairie-Beale, Georgia State University; Juana Mendenhall, Clark Atlanta University; Nela Moffatt, Mayo Clinic Graduate School, Rochester, MN; Darlene Mitrano, Tiffany Oliver and Jennifer Wilhelm, Emory University; Kristy Wilson, Purdue University.  They have very diverse research interests and have been placed in laboratories in departments throughout Emory University and Emory School of Public Health.  Those departments include Biomedical Engineering, Microbiology and Immunology, Biochemistry, Emergency Medicine, Neurology, Cell Biology, Medicine-Digestive Diseases Division, Infectious Diseases Division-Pediatrics, Biology, Pharmacology, Hematology/Oncology in the Winship Cancer Institute, and the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Neurology Division.

All fellowship positions for the 2008-2009 fiscal year have been filled.   We will start accepting applications for the 2009-2010 fiscal year beginning January 1, 2009.  The deadline for receiving all applications is March 1, 2009.  Please contact FIRST@emory.edu if you have any questions or need additional information.

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FIRST Fellows Continue to Receive Faculty Appointments
(For the full list of appointments received by FIRST fellows see
Job Placements of Graduates
)

  • Jennifer Holzman, Ph.D., Lecturer and Director of Undergraduate Labs, Department of Biology, Emory College - Begins August 1, 2008
  • Robert E. Pyatt, Ph.D., Assistant Director of Cytogenetics/Molecular Genetics Laboratory at Nationwide Children's Hospital and Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology at Ohio State University - Begins May 1, 2008
    Laurie Krug, Ph.D.
    , Assistant Professor, SUNY - Stony Brook University in Long Island, NY- Begins Dec. 1, 2008
  • Irma Santoro, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Biology in the School of Mathematics and Science at Reinhardt College - Begins August, 2008
  • Jackie Hoffman, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, North Carolina State University, Department of Poultry Science - Begins July, 2008
  • Manning Sabatier, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Clayton State University, Department of Health Fitness Management - Began January 7, 2008
  • Erin Keen-Rhinehart, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, University of California-Los Angeles in the Geffen Medical School, Department of OBGYN - Began October 1, 2007
  • Andrew Benson, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Georgia Gwinnett College, Department of Biology - Begins August, 1, 2008
  • Francisco Cruz, Ph.D., Lecturer, Department of Biology, Georgia State University - Began August, 2007

Other Positions:

  • Michele Doucette, R.D., Ph.D., Research Director, America On the Move, University of Colorado Denver, Center for Human Nutrition - Began June, 1, 2008
  • Robyn Woodbury, Ph.D., Principal Scientist Instructor, Department of Defense, Washington DC - Began November 1, 2007
  • Latarchal Morton, Ph.D., Director of Learning Programs, Emory University - Began August, 2007

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Annual IRACDA Conference

The 2008 IRACDA Conference was hosted by the SPIRE program at the University of North Carolina from June 8-11, 2008. Dr. Engda Hagos won a poster award (the honor of the highest quality research presentation) during this year's conference in Chapel Hill.  See http://spire.unc.edu for more information.  

The next IRACDA conference will be hosted by the University of California, San Francisco.  The dates of this meeting jave been set for June 7-10, 2009.  More information will follow shortly.

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FIRST Fellows Seminar Series

The FIRST Seminar Series is a peer research conference where fellows give mini-seminars about their individual research. It is also a forum in which fellows can practice an upcoming lecture for a particular course or practice a job talk prior to going out on job interviews. The most senior fellows generally begin the series of talks each year since they are further along in their research. Fellows are encouraged to take notes and give their colleagues feedback as to their general knowledge of the subject and presentation.

The conferences will be held on the 2nd Tuesday of every month from 12:00 - 1:00 PM. Refreshments will be served. All are welcome to attend.

Seminar Schedule 2007-2008

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Emory University School of Medicine
Department of Physiology
Atlanta, GA 30322-3110
(404) 727-7410 Office ~ (404) 727-2648 FAX

For questions or comments, contact the webmaster at FIRST@emory.edu.