Posted on February 14, 2001 at 12:37 p.m.

BIRMINGHAM, AL — Kira Martin has a passion for life. A passion for learning, for science, for medicine and for sharing her gifts with others. Thursday, her achievements at the University of Alabama at Birmingham will be acknowledged when she is named to the USA Today All-USA College Academic First Team, a prestigious ranking as one of the top 20 college students in the United States.

In her four years at UAB, Martin, a senior, has been a medical research assistant in Ghana, a volunteer English teacher in Thailand, founded a dance program for inner-city children, been a hospice volunteer, a patient escort at the Kirklin Clinic, a Sunday school teacher and a UAB Golden Girl dance team member. She has even been the UAB team mascot, Blaze.

A panel of educators selected the winners in the 12th annual USA Today competition from 682 nominees from colleges and universities nationwide. The winners were honored for their outstanding intellectual achievements and leadership and will be featured in the February 15 edition of USA Today. The honor comes with a $2,500 cash award.

Past UAB First Team members are biology major Hejal Patel in 1998 and Rhodes Scholar Neelaksh “Neel” Varshney in 2000. Two other UAB students have made the Second Team: Rachna Relwani in 1997 and Robert Allsbrook in 1993.

Martin, a pre-medicine major with a double major in international studies and French, has taken advantage of a variety of opportunities at UAB. As a freshman she was accepted into the Honors Program, which admits fewer than two percent of all undergraduates at UAB. She also was accepted into the Early Medical School Acceptance Program (EMSAP) as a freshman.

In the summer of 1998, Martin worked as a research assistant for one of several of her mentors, Thane Wibbles, Ph.D., a UAB associate professor of biology, on an international collaborative research project designed to investigate the relationship between temperature and sex-determination in endangered sea turtles. For three months, Martin compiled, organized data and performed calculations for data analysis.

“Kira played a pivotal role in our endangered Kemp's ridley sea turtle project,” Wibbles said. “When she was in the lab, she was a machine; super energy, highly disciplined, and full of enthusiasm.”

The next summer, she left the UAB Golden Girls dance team after two years to become a Minority International Research Training (MIRT) fellow. Under the MIRT program, Martin traveled to Ghana in the summer of 1999 to be a research assistant at the University of Ghana. Her project, “Physical Genetic Mapping of the S. damnosum s.l. Genome” was designed to determine whether a shortcut could be taken in locating the genes responsible for the parasitic infection of blackflies, the carrier of a tropical disease, onchocerciasis, which causes blindness, among other ailments.

The project involved intensive laboratory work. But because the laboratory where she worked lacked some of the equipment and chemicals needed for the experiment, Martin sometimes had to improvise.

“It was definitely a different experience,” Martin said. “Sometimes I had to really know my chemistry so that I could substitute chemicals that would have the same reactions and the same effects.”

On her return to the United States, Martin made a presentation on her findings at the National Minority Research Symposium in Phoenix. Martin said her interest in science and medicine and her desire to help others has influenced her decision to become a doctor.

“I want to go into geriatrics because I love working with the elderly,” Martin said. “I love it whenever I have an opportunity to sit down with them and talk and share experiences.”

Her love of science and medicine is coupled by her interest in international studies. She signed up for international studies at first as a freshman at UAB.

“I finally narrowed it down to international studies and I love it,” Martin said. “I like talking with people from abroad. Just to hear about their experiences is great, and you can learn so much. I’m speaking French, and I have really fallen in love with the language. It has been my biggest challenge.”

In addition to her schoolwork and research, Martin has always found the time to serve others not only in the Birmingham community, but as far away as Khon Kaen, Thailand, where she worked as a volunteer English teacher through the Baptist Campus Ministries. She has volunteered for various charitable organizations, including Bread and Roses, Children’s Hospital, and Gateway Residential Detention Center. She also is the founder of Birmingham Inner-City Dance, a program she initiated to teach dance to elementary and middle school girls at the Titusville Memorial Park Center.

“Kira isn’t just an outstanding scholar and student leader,” said Virginia Gauld, Ph.D., UAB vice president for student affairs. “She’s an exceptional human being. What is most inspiring is her passion to serve others, whether it’s teaching dance to inner city children, volunteering at a hospice, leading a Sunday school class or working as a resident assistant. Kira is a role model for any young person.”

While her passion for science and serving others is of no surprise to those who know her, Martin shocked her family and friends when she volunteered to become the school mascot, Blaze, during her senior year.

“After I left the Golden Girls, I missed being out of the loop of promoting UAB athletics,” Martin said. “Then I heard that a position for the Blaze mascot was open. I love it because you have free reign over the football field. It’s a lot of fun. I love dancing out in the middle of the court. You also get the attention from the little kids. You get about 100 hugs a night.”

Martin’s history of achievement didn’t start at UAB. The Northport resident was the class valedictorian at Tuscaloosa County High School. Martin says she chose UAB because she wanted a school where she could balance her interest in academics with athletics.

“I knew about UAB’s Honors Program and the Early Medical School Acceptance Program,” Martin said. “But I was also interested in athletics. I had been a cheerleader in high school and I had heard that the [UAB] Golden Girls were very good.”

Martin said she especially enjoys the Honors Program’s vigorous, interdisciplinary curriculum.

“One of my favorite things to do is to synthesize the things that I’ve learned and to see how they can be applied elsewhere,” Martin said. “That is what the Honors Program is all about, examining things all the way around and seeing what you can learn about a subject by looking at different perspectives.”

Martin’s intellect is matched by her high level of accomplishment, said Honors director Ada Long, Ph.D., her mentor who nominated her for the USA Today award.

“Among the thousands of students I have worked with in my 28-year career, Martin is one of the very best. She perhaps comes closer than any student I’ve ever known to the Platonic ideal of the student athlete and she is an exceptionally dedicated contributor to the program, the campus and the community. She is, quite simply, the best at just about everything she sets out to do.”

Her many accomplishments include being named the Outstanding Undergraduate Student in International Studies, and she has received the Outstanding Multicultural Award, which is awarded to a member of the UAB international community for distinguished academic achievement, research, and community service. She has also earned memberships into the Alpha Lambda Delta, Alpha Epsilon Delta, Omicron Delta Kappa, Golden Key and the Phi Kappa Phi honor societies. She was a UAB representative to the University of Alabama System Board of Trustees during the 1999-2000 academic year.

Martin is the daughter of Jean Martin of Northport and Eddie Martin Sr. of Hillcrest. She has a younger brother and sister who are students at Mississippi State University. Her sister, Keva, 20, studies English and political science and her brother, Eddie Jr., 19, is a pre-medicine student.