Now celebrating its 25th year, the Meyerhoff Scholars Program boasts more than 800 graduates, many of whom have gone on to pursue careers as scientists, researchers, engineers and doctors. In a story entitled “Where Are They Now?” in the August issue of Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, the magazine highlights the successes of six Meyerhoff alumni.
“The true strength of the Meyerhoff program is that we identify students who have a fire in the belly for sicence, who can’t see themselves doing anything else, who have a passion for inquiry and discovery,” the program’s director, Keith Harmon, told Diverse.
Among the alumni noted in the story:
- Isaac Kinde ’05 (M13), a graduate student at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, who was the lead author of research on a new version of the Pap smear;
- Gerald Lopez ’01 (M9), who earned his Ph.D. in computer engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and who now is in charge of support for a computer company with clients as diverse as Intel, government and university labs;
- Crystal Watkins ’95 (M3), an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University, where she earned her master’s and Ph.D.;
- Rabiah Mayas ’00 (M8), director of science and integrated strategies in the Center for the Advancement of Science Education at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago;
- Kyla McMullen ’05 (M13), the first African-American woman to earn a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Michigan, and who now is an assistant professor at Clemson University, and;
- Nwokedi C. Idika ’05 (M13), the first African-American male to earn a Ph.D. in computer science from Purdue, who now works on the staff of MIT Lincoln Labs.
As Lopez told Diverse magazine: “Meyerhoff meant a lot to me. It’s support for a lifetime. I use it as a resource even now. We help each other out a lot.”
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