Imperial Valley News

San Diego, California - UC San Diego’s top undergraduate researchers participated in the third annual Amgen Scholars U.S. Symposium July 18-20 in Los Angeles, California, where they shared their summer research projects and discussed career opportunities with leading industry and academic scientists.

The symposium is a key component of the Amgen Scholars Program, a $27.5 million international initiative that supports undergraduate research at 13 leading universities. In 2006, UC San Diego received a $1 million grant from the Amgen Foundation to fund an annual cohort of 30 scholars over a four-year period.

This year, UC San Diego selected 15 UC San Diego undergraduates and 15 from other U.S. institutions. More than 400 students applied to participate in the program and attend the mid-summer symposium.

“UC San Diego is home to some of the most talented young scholars in the nation who have incredible undergraduate research opportunities that encourage them to pursue advanced degrees and leadership roles in academia, industry, and government,” said David Artis, dean of Undergraduate Research Initiatives and director of UC San Diego’s Academic Enrichment Programs. “Amgen Scholars conduct serious faculty-mentored research. Our mentors remind students to be enthusiastic, take chances and collaborate with other scholars.”

At the Symposium, students such as UC San Diego senior Diep Ho were partnered with undergraduate scholars from across the nation. Ho said the Amgen Scholars program allowed him to gain hands-on lab experience and build strong connections with students and scientists with similar research interests. Since the death of her friend's sister due to brain cancer, Ho has felt the urge to pursue cancer research.

For the past three years, Ho has studied chronic myelogenous leukemia. She also has been making monetary donations to the American Cancer Society and participating in the Relay For Life marathon to raise money for cancer research. This summer, as part of the Amgen Scholars program, Ho continued to conduct research on chronic myelogenous leukemia.

“The symposium was an amazing experience,” Ho said. “It was truly a chance of a lifetime. Not only did the UC San Diego Amgen scholars have the opportunity to network with fellow scholars from nine other institutions, but we also were given glimpses into various types of careers.”

Another Amgen Scholar is UC San Diego senior Irina Gutman, who hopes the program will help build her biochemical laboratory skills and help her write science research papers.  Since she was 10 years old, Gutman has been fascinated by chemical and biological science and felt she was meant to be a scientist. Five years ago, she and her family traveled from the Ukraine to the U.S. as religious refugees. Shortly thereafter, her grandfather was diagnosed with cancer. His death led her to pursue science as a college student. Now an honors student at UC San Diego, Gutman is studying structural biochemistry.

UC San Diego was one of 10 premier U.S. universities that participated in the Amgen Scholars summer research program.  The other nine were California Institute of Technology, Columbia University/Barnard College, Howard University, MIT, Stanford University, UC Berkeley; UCLA, UC San Francisco, and University of Washington.