At the 9th Annual McNair National Scholars Research Conference, held July 10-13 at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, a West Virginia University McNair Scholar won a national research award. This makes the second consecutive year a WVU student has captured a McNair Conference award.

Angela Schaffer, a senior nursing major from Parkersburg, received 5th place in the biological science category with her presentation,The Impact of First Clinical Experiences on BSN StudentsPerceptions of the Nursing Profession,”a research project she conducted through the McNair Scholars Program with Dr. Kari Sand-Jecklin, WVU assistant professor of nursing.

The competition included over 160 oral and poster presentations, and awards were given to the top five students in each of the following categories: humanities/education, social science, biological science/health, physical science/math/computer science and poster session. Participants are required to explain all aspects of their project.

I feel very proud of the quality of research we do through the WVU McNair Scholars Program,said Program Coordinator Betty Mei.This is only the second year weve had a student present research at the national conference, the only McNair conference where student presentations are judged, and our students have received awards both years.

Six other WVU McNair Scholars attended the conference, although they did not participate in this years competition: Jon Michael Bosley, a senior geography major from Durbin; Amber Davis, a junior psychology major from Charleston; Donald Hill, a junior finance major from Westover; Patricia Underwood a junior art education major from Morgantown; Brianne Williams, a senior mechanical and aerospace engineering major from Hyattsville, Md., and Jonathan Young, a senior economics and political science double major from Charleston.

The McNair program, federally funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, assists first generation college students and minority college students in preparing for graduate education. The program bears the name of Ronald E. McNair, who died along with six of his astronaut colleagues aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1986.

This summer WVU s McNair Scholars Program was notified that they have received funding for an additional four years.

McNair Scholars also receive a stipend for a six-week-long summer research internship, research writing and skills training, standardized test preparation, graduate school campus visits, graduate placement assistance and other professional development opportunities.

The program is open to full-time WVU students who have completed their sophomore year of study, have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 and are considering graduate school.

Applicants must be U.S. citizens and/or permanent legal U.S. residents and be first generation college students with demonstrated need or a member of the numerically under-represented, such as African-Americans, Latino-Americans and Native Americans.

For more information, contact WVU s McNair Scholars Office at 304-293-4316 or visit the McNair Web site at http://www.wvu.edu/~mcnair/IE/ .