March 31, 2008
• UAB Honors Program students win prestigious award
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Three University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Honors Program students, Pratik Talati, Taoreed "Larry" Lawal and Cierra Spencer, have been selected as Barry M. Goldwater Scholars for the academic year 2008-2009.
Goldwater Scholars are selected on the basis of academic merit. Recent Goldwater Scholars have been awarded 70 Rhodes scholarships, 94 Marshall awards and numerous other distinguished fellowships. One- and two-year Goldwater scholarships cover tuition, fees, books and room and board up to $7,500 per year.
The three are among the 321 students selected from a field of 1,035 mathematics, science and engineering students nominated from colleges and universities nationwide. They are among seven Alabama residents selected to receive the Goldwater scholarship this year and among eight UAB students who have received the award in the university's history.
Pratik Talati, 20, of Pelham, is a sophomore majoring in mathematics and chemistry. In addition to being a student in the Honors Program, he is a student in the Chemistry Scholar and Math Fast Track programs. He maintains a 4.0 GPA. He recently was awarded a scholarship to attend the prestigious Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst (DAAD)-Rise Summer Internship Program at Max-Plank-Institute of Psychiatry in Munich, Germany, where he will analyze novel stress-regulated genes in mice.
Talati has conducted research under the direction of UAB Professor James Meador-Woodruff, M.D. in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology and he has co-authored an abstract. Following graduation, he plans to pursue a combined MD/Ph.D. degree. He is the son of Ashvin and Alka Talati.
Taoreed "Larry" Lawal, 20, of Hoover, is a junior majoring in biology. He maintains a 3.95 GPA. He has conducted research under the direction of several UAB researchers in the biology, engineering and pathology departments. He was a recipient of the NASA Alabama Space Grant Consortium Scholarship in 2007. He was a first place winner in the UAB 2007 Summer Research Intern poster session and he received the Excellence in Organic Chemistry Award in 2007.
Following graduation, Lawal says he plans to pursue a medical degree, specializing in oncology, and he would like to conduct research. He is the son of Isaac Lawal of Hoover and the late Dayo Lawal.
Cierra Spencer, 21, of Monroeville, is a junior chemistry major specializing in biochemistry. She maintains a 3.95 GPA. She received several awards, including the Excellence in Freshman Chemistry Award, the Excellence in Organic Chemistry Award and a Chemistry Scholar fellowship from the UAB Department of Chemistry. She has also received the 2008 UNCF Merck Undergraduate Science Research Scholarship Award for 2008-09. The award is presented by the United Negro College Fund and the Merck Institute for Science Education.
Under the direction of Pengfei Wang, Ph.D., in the Department of Chemistry, Spencer is working on a project to make compounds for the controlled release of anti-cancer drugs. Following graduation, she says she is planning a career in research. She is the daughter of Mira Brown of Monroeville.
The UAB Honors Program, under the direction of Psychology Associate Professor Michael Sloane, Ph.D., provides gifted and highly motivated students with an intimate, innovative and challenging, interdisciplinary course of study.