01/17/08

Investigative Research Scholars Program (IRSP)

    From 2003-2007, 22 students have participated in the IRSP program. From these students, there have been two Goldwater scholarships: Komal Rastogi at Drury College, and Nadia Sebastian at Creighton University. Abie Odejimi (2006 program) received a full scholarship from Questbridge to attend Rice University. Abie, in her freshman year at Rice, is already working in a biochemistry laboratory. Philip Danser (2006 program) at Duke intends to study civil engineering and public policy.

    Most of the IRSP students are majoring in science or technology at Renssalear Polytechnic Institute, Southern Methodist University, Drury University, Columbia University, Creighton University, Duke University, University of Missouri at Rolla, Northwestern University, Dartmouth College, Washington University, Rice University, University of Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State University.

    The five students currently in the 2007 program were able to get into excellent mentorships. The mentors are top scientists, who like to work with students and are good role models. Lauren Mathias’ mentor, Dr. Anne Pereira, has a start-up company based on her research. Another mentor, Dr. Celeste Wirsig-Wiechmann, took the student (Connie Liu) with her research group to North Carolina to catch salamanders that are used in the laboratory.

    The students this year were exposed to knowledgeable professionals in the fields of technology and business. Especially interesting was Anil Gollahalli from the OU Office of Technology Development, who spoke about intellectual property. All the speakers encourage the students to think about the future and the possibilities open to them.