Rice Selected as a Participant in the Beckman Scholars Program

Rice Selected as a Participant in the Beckman Scholars Program

RICE NEWS
April 29, 1999

The Beckman Foundation recently selected Rice as one of only 16 colleges and
universities nationwide to participate in the 1999-2000 Beckman Scholars Program.

Funded by the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation, the highly competitive scholars
program provides funding–nearly $15,000 per undergraduate student–for two
full-time summer research sessions and for part-time research during one academic
year. The research is to be centered in chemistry, biochemistry, the biological
and medical sciences, or some combination of these subjects.

Rice will name the Beckman Scholars this spring, prior to the students’ junior
or senior years.

James Kinsey, the D.R. Bullard-Welch Professor of Science, is program director
for the Beckman program at Rice.

According to the Beckman Foundation, the program’s goal is to promote "sustained,
in-depth, faculty-mentored undergraduate laboratory research experiences for
a group of the nation’s most talented chemistry and biological sciences undergraduates."

Beckman Scholars are expected to engage in a vigorous program of original research.
Selection will be based in part on academic excellence and in part on a research
plan developed in conjunction with a member of the faculty.

Next summer the selected scholars will join about 60 other Beckman Scholars
from across the United States in presenting their research findings at the annual
Beckman Scholars Symposium.

The Beckman Scholars Program evaluates institutions on such areas as historical
and current commitment to high-quality undergraduate research programs and the
institution’s record of student admissions to highly rated graduate and professional
schools. It also considers the scholarly accomplishments and educational background
of faculty and the experience of faculty as undergraduate research mentors.

The Beckman Foundation evaluated 798 instituions and then reviewed 107 invited
pre-applications for inclusion in the program before arriving at this year’s
16 awardees.

Established in 1977, the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation makes grants to
non-profit research institutions to promote research in chemistry and the broad
field of life sciences, and to foster the invention of methods, instruments
and materials that will open up new avenues of research in science.