The Faculty United for Toxicology Undergraduate Recruitment and Education (FUTURE) Committee is announcing funding opportunities to support SOT member faculty who are important in the recruitment of undergraduates to toxicology. SOT is funding grants up to $1,500 for undergraduate research or faculty development. The application deadline has been shifted to May 1.
Undergraduate research is an important tactic to achieve the strategic goal of recruiting students to careers in toxicology. Three to five faculty grants will be awarded for training undergraduate students through a toxicology-based research experience.
One or two grants will support undergraduate faculty development through an experience selected and justified by the applicant. An example is yearly membership or enhanced participation in the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity (NCFDD) or similar program related to strengthening the skills of the toxicologist faculty member and encouraging participation by undergraduate students in toxicology or STEM fields.
This is the third year of funding. 2018 recipients were featured in this blog. The recipients of funding for undergraduate research consist of David Blake, Fort Lewis College (Colorado), whose students studied caffeic acid cytotoxicity; Michael Borland, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, whose student investigated PPAR overexpression and melanoma and had an abstract on this work accepted for the 2020 SOT Annual Meeting (see this blog); Greg Landry, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (development of a primary cell repository); Carin Thomas, Central Washington University (time course of ROS production by phthalates); Marie Bourgeois, University of South Florida (biomonitoring to identify elevated pesticide residues in breast milk); and Luoping Zhang, whose student recently completed a review paper on the relationship of benzene exposure, immunosuppression, and chronic inflammation that will be submitted for publication.
Dr. Gurjot Kaur used her professional development grant funding for membership in the NCFDD and has been engaging in online modules and mentoring experiences.
For more information, please review the information at the links indicated. Questions can be directed to Betty Eidemiller at SOT.