UAB Chemistry Student Named UNCF-Merck Fellow

Cierra Spencer, a junior from Monroeville majoring in chemistry and philosophy, was chosen to receive a 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. Recipients, or UNCF-Merck Fellows, will be mentored by a Merck scientist and receive two 10- to 12-week Merck Summer Internships. During the fellowship, Spencer will work in the process chemistry department at the Merck facility in Rahway, N.J.

        April 17, 2008

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Cierra Spencer, a junior from Monroeville majoring in chemistry and philosophy, was chosen to receive a 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. Recipients, or UNCF-Merck Fellows, will be mentored by a Merck scientist and receive two 10- to 12-week Merck Summer Internships. During the fellowship, Spencer will work in the process chemistry department at the Merck facility in Rahway, N.J.

In Spencer's undergraduate research, she is working with Pengfei Wang, Ph.D., of the UAB Department of Chemistry on the development of compounds for the photochemically controlled release of anticancer drugs.