Students from UAB continue to help advance research opportunities for the state and beyond through the highly competitive Alabama EPSCoR Graduate Research Scholars Program awards. Six University of Alabama at Birmingham graduate students in the College of Arts and Sciences and School of Optometry were awarded Graduate Research Scholars Program awards for the upcoming fall semester, through Alabama Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research.
The Graduate Research Scholars Program is designed to strengthen and enhance the research capacity of Alabama EPSCoR institutions by providing graduate student support for students performing federally funded EPSCoR research — totaling about $16 million a year to Alabama.
Across the eight EPSCoR Ph.D.-granting institutions in the state, there were 88 GRSP proposal applications, and a competitive statewide review process that resulted in 38 awards for $894,000. UAB received six awards — with $25,000 granted for a full award — for a total of $143,750. These students represent the next generation of researchers and innovators for the advancement of Alabama’s high-tech human resource capacity.
UAB graduate student awardees include:
- John Schoelz (’21) – UAB Department of Biology
- Taiaba Afrin (’22) – UAB Department of Biology
- Kiran Adhikari (’21) – UAB Department of Physics
- Kelli Cannon (’22) – UAB School of Optometry, Vision Sciences/Radiology
- Guimu Guo (’22) – UAB Department of Computer Sciences
- Taylor Davis (’23) – UAB Department of Psychology, Behavioral Neuroscience
The goals of GRSP are to position Alabama’s research institutions to be more competitive in attracting eminent senior faculty, encourage interdisciplinary training and research, establish a resource base for attracting distinguished faculty and researchers, and address the economic need for a highly trained workforce to ensure the growth of emerging technology companies.
Funds for the GRSP program are appropriated by the legislature to support federally funded Alabama EPSCoR research as part of the Alabama Commission on Higher Education budget. GRSP awards are made to the eight Alabama EPSCoR research institutions to qualified graduate students by a statewide competitive review process.
The eight EPSCoR member institutions are Alabama A&M University, Alabama State University, Auburn University, Tuskegee University, The University of Alabama, UAB, University of Alabama in Huntsville, and the University of South Alabama.
For more information, visit Alabama EPSCoR’s website at www.alepscor.org.