University of the Sciences in Philadelphia

What started as a class in grant and scientific writing has had some exciting results: six competitive awards and grants for graduate students.

In fall 2007, Dr. Vojislava Pophristic, assistant professor of computational chemistry, offered graduate courses in grant writing and scientific writing. The courses were organized with the goal of teaching students how to effectively write grants and seek out funding opportunities.

"Another aim of the courses was to enhance a student's abilities and knowledge of how to utilize other means of scientific communication, such as finding and attending appropriate scientific meetings, having scientific findings published in relevant, peer-reviewed journals, and preparing curriculum vitae," Dr. Vojislava Pophristic said.

With eight full-time graduate students from PhD programs in chemistry, biochemistry and pharmacognosy, the course achieved a considerable success in the last six months. Six competitive awards, including national and prestigious awards, have been handed out:

o Carrie Waterman, PhD PhCog'11 (advisor Dr. Ara DerMarderosian) won a national travel award from the American Society for Pharmacognosy in support of attending their next meeting in Athens, Greece ($1000). Waterman also has won the Abraham Glasser Fellowship for 2008-09, granted by University of the Sciences.

o Sarah Saylor, PhD C'10 (advisor Dr. Catherine Bentzley) has won a travel award to attend the 56th ASMS Conference on Mass Spectrometry in June 2008 in Denver, Col. The competitive award ($500) was granted by the Delaware Valley Mass Spectrometry Discussion Group.

o Whelton Miller, PhD C'11 (advisor Dr. Pophristic) won the William Penn award for his poster presentation at the local ACS meeting in January 2008.

o Jessica Geer PhD C'11 (advisor Dr. Pophristic) and Miller won awards that supported their attendance and travel expenses to the workshop entitled "The Future Faculty Workshop: Diverse Leaders of Tomorrow," organized by MIT in June in Dedham, Mass.

The rewards are still coming in. Several other grant applications are pending and in preparation, including predoctoral NIH fellowships and American Association of Women Scientists travel awards. Dr. Pophristic is offering the class again this fall.