UA Students Win Goldwater, Truman Scholarships

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Three University of Alabama students recently landed two of the nation’s most highly sought academic scholarships.

The Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation chose John Phillips, a junior biochemistry major from Decatur, as one of its 75 Truman Scholars, selected from among the 602 students nominated by 299 colleges and universities. Truman Scholars are awarded $30,000 for graduate study and are chosen on the basis of leadership potential, intellectual ability, and likelihood of “making a difference.”

The Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation selected two UA students, Cody Locke, a junior biology major from Boaz, and Jennifer Phillips, a sophomore chemical and biological engineering major from Birmingham (35216), as Goldwater Scholars. More than 1,000 mathematics, science and engineering students were nominated by faculties nationwide for Goldwaters, and only 320 were selected. UA students comprised half of the state’s four representatives.

“These awards demonstrate the success of The University of Alabama at empowering its students to achieve to the top of their ability and then be recognized for that achievement,” said Dr. Robert Halli, dean of UA’s Honors College.

Truman Scholar – John Phillips

John Phillips, who is minoring in business and Computer Based Honors, was cited by the Truman Foundation for his role in building a patient information database for the Good Samaritan Clinic, a free Tuscaloosa health clinic that provides services to the medically uninsured. In addition to developing the programming for the system and training the volunteers who would use it, Phillips built a computer for the clinic, using recycled parts from non-working computers.

President of Capstone Men and Women, the University’s student ambassador group, and founder and president of Capstone Leaders United, a group that promotes campus diversity, John Phillips is researching, under faculty guidance, cancer genes as well as new methods for industrial pollution clean-up. He was named Outstanding Junior in the Computer Based Honors Program and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

“In all our combined time as teachers and researchers at the University of Tennessee, the Rockefeller University, Columbia University and now at The University of Alabama, John is among the most brilliant young men we have ever met,” wrote Drs. Kim and Guy Caldwell, assistant professors of biological sciences in UA’s College of Arts and Sciences, in a joint nomination letter. “He is simply impressive in every capacity – as a researcher, as a scholar, as a leader among his peers, and role model for others.”

Following graduation in May 2006, John Phillips said he plans to enter a five-year program and obtain a Doctor of Medicine degree and a master’s in public health. His career goals include helping design free health clinics and later to help shape policies related to health care or support for biomedical research.

Goldwater Scholar – Cody Locke

As a full-time undergraduate student, Locke researches the molecular basis for epilepsy in the Caldwells’ lab, using the animal model system, C. elegans. More than 50 percent of all human hereditary diseases have been linked to genetic components also found in the worm.

“Never before have I seen such an enormous talent mature to international stature at an undergraduate level as has Cody Locke’s,” wrote Dr. John W. Holaday, a biotechnology entrepreneur and an adjunct professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, in a letter of support for Locke. Holaday met Locke through his professional association with the Caldwells.

Locke has presented research, for which he was the lead author, at the American Society for Cell Biology’s annual meeting, the world’s largest conference in the cellular biology field. As a sophomore, a work he co-authored was selected from this meeting of more than 10,000 cell biologists as one of 13 works highlighted in the society’s international Press Book for media release and for use in high school education nationwide. His research has been published in Human Molecular Genetics and received more international recognition via a news release by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

For a Computer-Based Honors project, Locke used information from the human genome project to design and build an online database on the genetics of epilepsy. It integrates Internet-based computational resources directly with laboratory experiments involving a method for genetic analysis called RNA interference. The database, at http://carpedb.ua.edu, is included in the National Center for Biotechnology Information Molecular Biology Database Collection, published by the journal Nucleic Acids Research. It was recently highlighted in Science magazine.

Active in campus organizations, Locke is editor in chief of the Journal of Science & Health at The University of Alabama and president of Beta Beta Beta Biological Honor Society. He is a first-generation college student who plans to become a molecular and cellular biology professor.

Goldwater Scholar – Jennifer Phillips

Jennifer Phillips says she has been fascinated with science and mathematics for as long as she remembers. Although she initially intended to explore these fields as a physician, she changed her mind after attending the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Biomedical Engineering Summer Research Program. Jennifer Phillips now thrives on the possibilities that can be accomplished in the field of biomedical research through engineering.

As part of her Computer-Based Honors project, Jennifer Phillips developed a computer program that models the heat transfer during magnetic fluid hyperthermia, which is a cancer therapy that directly injects a fluid containing magnetic particles into a tumor. The application of an alternating magnetic field causes the particles to become hot. The elevated temperature of the particles destroys the surrounding cancerous cells while minimizing damage to healthy tissue.

“The quality of her work on this research project is nothing short of excellent. I consider her work to be of the same caliber as that of a graduate student, yet she is still only a sophomore,” wrote Dr. Duane Johnson, associate professor of chemical and biological engineering at UA’s College of Engineering, in her nomination letter.

The results of Jennifer Phillips’ project currently are being submitted as two different manuscripts to internationally peer-reviewed journals. She also presented her research at the biotechnology symposium at the national American Institute of Chemical Engineers conference during a session with graduate students and other well-established professors.

To expand her research capabilities, Jennifer Phillips participates in the Cooperative Education Program and has worked three semesters with the Southern Research Institute. The Co-op Program is a special academic program in which students alternate periods of full-time study with periods of full-time employment.

Jennifer Phillips is also involved in numerous organizations at the Capstone including Ambassadors of the College of Engineering, Honors College Ambassadors, and UA’s chapter of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and she volunteers with the American Cancer Society and with two local elementary schools as a tutor.