The College of Charleston

McNair Scholars Program Newsletter J

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Inside this Issue

Introduction p. 1

Student Spotlight p. 2, p. 5

Summer Snapshots p. 3

2010 Fall Open House p. 4

Graduate School

Launch Workshop p. 4

GRE Prep. Class p. 6

Contact Us p. 7

New Years Greetings from the McNair Scholars Program Staff! We

are excited to present to you the first issue of the McNair

Scholars Program Newsletter. The Program was launched here on

the College of Charleston campus and received a wonderful

response from the community. This past year has been extremely

busy both for the staff as well as our scholars. We have a

wonderful group of students who came a long way this past year.

Some of them had not even considered graduate school before

learning about the Program. For these students, they realized

that graduate school is not a distant dream, but with a good

foundation like that provided by the McNair Scholars Program, it

is instead within their reach. Although things happen in life, they

know they are on the right track.

“I think one of the great things about McNair is that we have the

opportunity to pinpoint students, get them in the pipeline, get

them ready for graduate school, and then, of course, make that

next step to be leaders in the world’s communities,” explains the

Executive Vice President for Student Affairs, Victor Wilson.

We have had a lot of accomplishments but also challenges this

year. The Program will continue to grow and improve on its past

experiences. Please enjoy reading about our achievements and

upcoming events.

Any suggestions or ideas for future issues? Send them to McNair@cofc.edu. We are waiting for your feedback!

Victor Wilson, Executive VP for Student Affairs, with the McNair

Scholars

Momentous Inaugural Year:

McNair Scholars Program 2009-2010

The mission of the College of

Charleston McNair Scholars Program is to prepare its participants

for doctoral studies by fostering

understanding and creativity through undergraduate

research endeavors. The Program is

supported by a federal TRiO grant funded

by the U.S. Department of Education that seeks to increase the

number of Ph.D recipients from groups underrepresented in graduate education.

Page 3 VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1

Student Spotlight

Katherine Gumps

Check out the McNair Scholars Program website at:

go.cofc.edu/mcnairscholars

Katherine Gumps is a College of Charleston McNair Scholar working towards a major in Biology and Discovery Informatics and a minor in Mathematics. She has recently been awarded the National Institute of Health 2010-2011 UGSP Scholarship, the College of Charleston Research Presentation Grant (RPG), and the College of Charleston Major Academic Year Support (MAYS).

You have been very successful with your research. How did you first get involved in this field?

When I first got to the College of Charleston, I already knew that I wanted to do research and go to graduate

school. I was a transfer student and technically already sophomore. From the beginning I was asking around

trying to find a research lab where I could work. It was actually Dr. Chris Korey, my current research advisor,

who put me in contact with Dr. Agnes Southgate. She gave me a lot of freedom. She would have me to do

certain tasks, later speculate on them, and finally go to her to talk about it. She would give me some ideas,

and I would go back to the lab to try again. It was a wonderful, independent experience. Dr. Korey is the same

way. I had a very good experience with research from the beginning.

Research is a tough environment and requires a lot of work and determination. How do you motivate

yourself?

I always want to know what the answer is. I’m just a very curious person. Even though, technically, in science

you never get the answers. You just get more questions. That aspect of investigation is what keeps me

motivated.

What has been the biggest challenge for you so far?

The monotony of research. Occasionally, you have to do the same thing over and over again for several

months without much result. That part is a little difficult to get through.

With such a busy schedule, do you still have time to relax or do other things besides research?

Surprisingly enough, I have a pretty good social life. I play the violin, and I’m starting to play the guitar. I don’t

do it nearly as much, but I play tennis on the weekends. I might start taking up swing dancing. I’ve always

wanted to do that, and I’ve convinced a good friend of mine to start the class with me. I also do drawing

when I get the chance. Of course, I also hang out with my friends. Then I always have lunch with my

grandmother on the weekends. We go to brunch at Early Bird every Sunday. It is one of my favorite things to

do during the week.

continued on page 5

LOOKING BACK ON 2010…

SUMMER SNAPSHOTS

Left: McNair Scholars and Staff enjoying a day at the Atlanta Aquarium after attending the SAEOPP McNair/SSS Scholars

Research Conference

Right: McNair Scholars during a tour at the Avery Research Center

Left: Caroline White’s lecture about Gullah history, traditions, and

community

Right: McNair Scholar Danielle Brandon working with the students

of the Metanoia Freedom School

Left: McNair Scholars at the Financial Planning workshop conducted by

Tawan Perry

Right: McNair Scholar TJ Fielder giving a presentation on hip-hop

Left: McNair Scholars and Staff after the Summer Research Presentations

Right: McNair Scholar Javier Gómez-Lavin talking to Faculty Mentor Dr.

Helen Delfeld during the URCA Poster Session

Page 5 VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1 2010 Fall Open House

Graduate School Launch Workshop

If you still don’t know much about the McNair Scholars

Program, the McNair Open House is always a great

opportunity to learn more about what we do and

what services we offer for our scholars. The most

recent Open House was held on September 22, 2010

and was a great success! We were able to give special

thanks to all those individuals who helped us make this first

year a big hit (a special thanks to the research advisors Dr.

Jen Wright and Dr. Helen Delfeld; faculty mentors Dr. Adam

Doughty, Dr. Lee Irwin, Dr. Chris Korey, Dr. Lisa Thomson Ross, Dr. Christine

Byrum, Dr. Pamela Riggs-Gelasco, Dr. Jim Bowring, and Dr. Whit Schonbein).

While enjoying delicious food, guests had the opportunity to watch the new College of Charleston McNair

video and see the collection of photos from the past year. Everyone had another chance to see the posters

on research that McNair scholars conducted over the summer. As guests walked among the poster

displays, McNair scholars were there to answer any questions and discuss their topics. The program staff

hopes to see you at our next Open House!

Take a look at a few of our pictures from the event . To see more pictures go to go.cofc.edu/

mcnairscholars.

Applying to graduate school can be very stressful and burdensome. The McNair

Scholars Program provides the unique opportunity of thoroughly helping the scholars

at every step of the application process. On November 10, 2010, the McNair Scholars

Office conducted a graduate school launch workshop. Students received an

application tool kit that contained all the materials necessary to organize, generate,

and complete their graduate school applications. The McNair scholars were advised

on procedures regarding official transcripts, application fee waivers,

composing a personal mission statement, obtaining letters of

recommendation, GRE scores, and other related topics. Many thanks to

Nikki DeWeese, the Director of Information and Recruitment at the

College of Charleston Graduate School, who did a fabulous job in

moderating a panel discussion directed towards helping the students

obtain their recommendation letters and write their personal

statements. Dr. Michael Cipriano (Director of the M.S. in Accountancy

Program), Dr. Timothy Callahan (Director of the M.S. in Environmental Studies),

and Tiffany Dixon (Candidate – M.Ed. Languages) were available to answer

students’ questions and give advice from their unique perspective. Towards the

end of the workshop, the McNair scholars were given time to work on their

individual graduate school applications with the help of Program Coordinator,

Carrie Ben-Yisrael. The McNair Scholars Program Office wishes all those who are

currently applying to graduate school the best of luck!

continued from page 2

What was your best experience with the McNair Scholars Program?

It is a really amazing program. It’s taught me a lot about working with others. Even though I have lab mates,

we all work on our own separate projects. Whereas the McNair Scholars Program has really showed me how

to work as part of a team. It has also given me lots of experience actually talking about science and being able

to express it in a way so that people who aren’t familiar with science can understand. I really enjoy that

aspect.

What is your ultimate goal?

I’m hoping to get my Ph.D. in the near future, although I don’t really know what that will be in yet. I want to

do research in either biology, physics, or computer science. I want to work on a topic related to neuroscience

that could also include my artistic talent. I also know that afterwards I want to be doing some public outreach

for a government agency, a non-profit, or some other organization, to get out of academia for a while. Then

eventually I would return as a professor at a university that has an interdisciplinary program directed towards

teaching students. Because in science, when you work on a research project you only get one dimension, or

you only have one field looking at it with a certain way. When you add that interdisciplinary aspect you get a

wider and more complete picture and more people are able to understand it. It gives you more ideas and

spurs scientific innovation. It’s good to bring in all those aspects.

Do you have any advice for students that are just entering the world of research?

Research can be frustrating and disappointing at times. It’s one of those things that you either like or don’t

like. People typically find that out pretty quickly whether or not they enjoy it. I’m definitely one of those

people that does enjoy it. It’s also competitive, and you have to be very dedicated. Often you find out your

research is not getting anywhere and you have to start all over again. People in research need to grow a thick

skin. My other advice would be to keep yourself updated in your field of study by reading scientific magazines

and other literature. Even reading things every day I still don’t keep up with it as much as I would like to. I

would also recommend getting used to the jargon of science.

Thanks a lot for your time and we wish you even more

success in your future endeavors.

“The McNair Program has truly been a blessing. I feel so prepared to take the next step to graduate school through this Program and have loved my experience every step of the way.”

Page 7 VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1

Do you have trouble sleeping at night knowing that there is a big test looming in your future?

Does your heart race every time you hear that three-letter word? If so, then you should definitely

consider the GRE Prep Class hosted by the McNair Scholars Program. The Fall GRE Class was a

great success! It started at the end of the summer with the Pre-Assessment Test in which students

were able to identify their preparedness for the GRE exam and ended up with the Post-

Assessment Test to show the students their progress and identify their weaknesses. Joi Mayo, who

conducts the class, has revamped the course to make it even better for the Spring semester. The

Spring GRE Class begins on January 23, 2011 and runs on

Sundays from 6 – 9pm through April 3, 2011. The

course includes: 11 sessions, a Cambridge GRE book, and a

CD-ROM that contains diagnostic and practice tests

and a writing skill builder. Other features of the course

include professionally scored and analyzed pre and

posttests, and electronic vocabulary notecards created

specifically for the students. They can access the 1,107

notecards on their phones, mp3 players, computers, or

even print them out. These resources allow students to feel

more comfortable and better prepared for the test.

The GRE Prep Class is free for McNair Scholars but will also be open to the College community

for a fee of $350 dollars. We are expecting that other students will clamor (a GRE word!) to join

the course.

The last day to register for the Spring GRE Class is January 19, 2011. We look forward to seeing

you all at the course as we tackle to GRE!!

For more information contact the McNair Scholars Program Office at 843.953.6755 or

mcnair@cofc.edu.

McNair hosts Spring GRE Prep. Class

Visit us at our office located in the Stern Student Center, 4th Floor, Room 413.

Office: 843-953-6755

Fax: 843-953-1423

Email: McNair@cofc.edu

Website: go.cofc.edu/mcnairscholars

Carrie Bullock Ben-Yisrael

Program Coordinator

benyisraelc@cofc.edu

Marta Rivell

Administrative Assistant

rivellm@cofc.edu

Mailing Address

66 George Street

Charleston, SC 29424

Physical Address

71 George Street

413 Stern Student Ctr.

Charleston, SC 29401

WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU!