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Kellogg School of Science and Technology
The
36 new students in the Kellogg School of Science and Technology at Scripps Research entered a thriving
program that continues to provide innovation and excellence. All first-year students now attend
a class called Critical Thinking and Communication in Science. In addition to bringing the students
together, the course provides a shared intellectual foundation for their studies, whether the
students are focusing on chemistry, chemical biology, biology, or biophysics. Entering students
also come together with upper-class colleagues and faculty at the Graduate Student/Faculty Retreat.
This annual event, which achieves the standards of excellence of many professional conferences,
encourages exchange among Scripps Research students and faculty and provides a forum for students’
presentations.
Also enriching the Kellogg School experience
are a number of recently launched collaborative programs. These include the Skaggs Oxford Scholarships
Program, a joint graduate program in biology, chemistry, and biochemistry at Scripps Research
and Oxford University in England. The program has named its first scholars: Erin Scherer, Michael
Barnes, and Yee Hwee Lim. Skaggs Oxford Scholars from both Scripps Research and Oxford University
campuses will spend approximately 3 years at one location before moving across the Atlantic to
finish their doctoral work at the other institution. These students will graduate with a Ph.D.
jointly awarded by Scripps Research and Oxford University.
In addition, for the first time, students
at Scripps Research now include those in the Medical Scientist Training Program, which offers
education in both clinical medicine and biomedical research. In this collaboration, students
attend medical school at the University of California, San Diego, and then complete doctoral work
in a Scripps Research laboratory. They graduate with both an M.D. and a Ph.D.
May 2005 saw 21 students graduating from
the Kellogg School of Science and Technology. The school’s 13th commencement celebrated
their accomplishments and honored the keynote speaker, Scripps Research Professor Emeritus
Floyd Bloom. In his speech, Dr. Bloom pointed to the challenges that face science today, notably
helping to address pressing problems in healthcare. He also commented on the great promise of science
today:
Even occasional observers of the scientific
scene know that this past decade has witnessed some incredible achievements by the worldwide research
community. In fact, the incredibility itself is the noteworthy feature—things once thought
to be impossible have in fact been accomplished. Like the 4-minute mile, which was once believed
to be the limit of human running capacity, preconceived limits in several scientific fields have
been made obsolete. The continuous emergence of such advances suggests that other barriers that
are acceptable by today’s logic could eventually yield to persistent research.
The 2005 graduates now join the ranks of
Scripps Research alumni—not only a source of pride for the institute but also a growing resource
for current and future students. An alumni database (http://alumni.scripps.edu), which is free
and runs on an “opt-in” basis, was launched last year as a career contact tool for those
with a Scripps Research affiliation. The database is available to current students and postdoctoral
fellows, the approximately 200 Ph.D.s who have graduated from the Scripps Research doctoral program,
and hundreds of former Scripps Research postdoctoral fellows in academic and industrial positions
around the world.
In the past year,
the students of the Kellogg School further distinguished themselves with a number of prestigious
awards. Bryan O’Neill won a grant from the Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program. Hao
Xu was selected for the Bristol-Myers Squibb Graduate Fellowship in Synthetic Organic Chemistry.
Yang Xu won the Novartis Graduate Fellowship in Organic Chemistry for Minorities and Women. Kyle
Chiang was awarded a grant from the California Breast Cancer Research Program. Sara Brownell and
Kathryn Thompson won National Science Foundation Fellowships. Ryan Shenvi was awarded a National
Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship. Mark Zak won the Eli Lilly Graduate Fellowship
in Organic Chemistry.
Additional support for outstanding students
was provided by the ARCS Foundation, the Bagel Fellowship, the Bauce Family Foundation, the Baxter
Foundation, the Gilula Fellowship, the Fletcher Jones Foundation, Robert Loch, Lesly Starr Shelton,
the Gustavus and Louise Pfeiffer Research Foundation, the Andrea Elizabeth Vogt Memorial Award,
Arthur Weiner, and other generous donors.
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