Mount Senior Wins Top Award at 2010 Annual Biomedical Conference for Minority Students
11/23/2010
University of Mount Saint Vincent senior Ana Uruena ’11 was recently honored with the Outstanding Presentation in Developmental Biology award for her poster presentation, The Role of Dm ime2 in Drosophila Melanogaster, at the 2010 Annual Biomedical Conference for Minority Students. During the four-day conference, which took place from November 10 to 13 in Charlotte, N.C., 1,200 students participated in poster and oral presentations in 10 disciplines in the biomedical and behavioral sciences. Awards were given to the undergraduate student presentations that received the highest scores in each scientific discipline during the conference’s final banquet.
A native of Caracas, Venezuela, Uruena is a biology major and biochemistry minor. Uruena completed the research that was presented at the conference part of her summer internship at MIT.
“This award is an honor because all of the other award recipients were from big name universities,” said Uruena. “The education I received at the Mount was up to par with bigger institutions.”
The Division of Natural Sciences at the University of Mount Saint Vincent, which sponsored Uruena to attend the conference, praised Uruena’s scholarship and research.
“This was an amazing achievement for Ana — she is a stellar student and she has made all of us very proud,” said Dr. James Fabrizio, Chair of the Division of Natural Sciences. “The fact that our students can present their results at a major conference, compete with students from universities with major research programs, and win an award indicates that our science students are well-prepared, serious and engaged.”
At the conference, Uruena was granted waivers for graduate school application fees. After graduation, Uruena plans to apply for doctorate programs in cell and developmental biology and continue her research on drosophila melanogaster, more commonly known as fruit flies.
About the University of Mount Saint Vincent
Founded in 1847, the University of Mount Saint Vincent is a co-educational, independent institution rooted in the spirit and mission of the Sisters of Charity and committed to the liberal arts. The College’s undergraduate and master’s level degree programs prepare its uncommonly diverse students for lives of professional achievement and service. Please visit www.mountsaintvincent.edu for more information.