Students in the 2021 summer Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation research program spent eight weeks (June 14-August 6) conducting in-person research in areas including biology, engineering, and agriculture and food sciences.
The LSAMP interns worked on research projects supervised by UMES faculty members Drs. Sadanand Dhekney, Behnam Khatabi, Kausiksankar Das and Tracy Bell, coordinator for the program at UMES. They presented their findings at a joint Research Experiences for Undergraduate and LSAMP symposium at the close of the summer programs. Research activities were supplemented with professional and career development sessions and virtual experiences with the University System of Maryland LSAMP alliance partners, University of Baltimore County and University of Maryland College Park.
The program, funded by the National Science Foundation, aims to “assist universities and colleges in diversifying the nation’s science, technology, engineering and mathematics workforce by increasing the number of STEM degrees awarded to populations historically underrepresented in these disciplines.”
“UMES LSAMP graduates are recruited by top STEM graduate programs because of their impressive academic achievements and preparation,” Bell said.
According to colleagues at UMES, Bell is a role model for her LSAMP students who tend to keep in touch with her after graduation as she exudes a caring manner consistent with a small school, particularly an HBCU.
An example of success from a top UMES alum who participated in the program is Yasmin Roye who graduated in 2020 with a bachelor’s in biochemistry. Roye just completed her first year of Duke University’s biomedical engineering Ph.D. program and has a published paper to show for it, “A Personalized Glomerulus Chip Engineered from Stem Cell-Derived Epithelium and Vascular Endothelium.” The microfluidic methods that she learned as a researcher at UMES in Das’ lab have prepared her for her current work in the Duke lab. It was exploring the microfluidic fabrication and the application of nanomaterials that sparked her interest in biomedical engineering.
Gail Stephens, agricultural communications and media associate, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences, gcstphens@umes.edu, 410-621-3850.
Photo by Todd Dudek, agricultural communications, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences, tdudek@umes.edu.
