Undergraduate Researchers Hit the Road, Thanks to a Classmate

When UW senior Yael Varnado-Rhodes was selected as a United Negro College Fund/Merck Science Intern—one of only 12 recipients of this honor nationwide —her good news included a bonus for students in the UW Biology Program.

Through the internship, Varnado-Rhodes received a paid research internship at Merck for two summers and had her UW tuition, room, and board covered for this year.

And here’s the bonus: the UNCF/Merck award also included $10,000 for the UW Biology Program. (Varnado-Rhodes’ major, cell and molecular biology, is part of the Biology Program.) The Program has decided to use the funds to send UW students to scientific meetings to present their research.

“We decided to use the funds in this way because such experiences are often career-defining for students, ” explains Barbara Wakimoto, director of the Biology Program. “Presenting work at a scientific meeting allows students to show off their results, hone their presentation skills, make new contacts that can open doors in the future, and participate more fully in the profession. It also helps spread the world to other institutions about the high quality of our UW undergraduates.”

Already the support has allowed six students to travel to San Diego for the 25th Annual West Coast Undergraduate Research Conference in April, where two of them received awards for their posters. “That says a lot about our students,” says Wakimoto, “especially since only six awards were given overall at the conference.”