Beckman Scholars Program

The Chemistry of Life Program is proud to bring the Beckman Scholars Program, supported by the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation, back to NC State University!

The Beckman Scholars Program is a 15-month mentored research experience for exceptional undergraduate students in chemistry, biological sciences, or interdisciplinary combinations thereof.

This generous institutional award, provided by the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation to NC State University’s Chemistry of Life Program, spans three years (2021 – 2024), and will enable the funded support of six scholar–mentorship team pairs. Each internally selected scholar will receive a $21,000 research stipend to facilitate 15-months of mentored research (nine academic calendar months, two three-month summers), in addition to $5,000 provided for the faculty mentors.

The NC State Beckman Scholars Program in the Chemistry of Life is a program built off of experiences in undergraduate team science training in the biomedical sciences through the Comparative Medicine Institute’s SIRI Program, but now for the first time being developed at the Chemistry:Life Science interface through the Chemistry of Life Program. Dr. Joshua Pierce is the Program PI and Dr. Jorge Piedrahita is the Program Co-PI. This program represents exceptional and distinctive training across a set of talented faculty and strong departments. We believe it is a model for training that will provide a template for others around the world and one that yields great success from both a research and education standpoint.

The program is currently in its final year, new positions will becomone available in future years if the program is renewed. 

Please note that this program begins in May 2023 for those students applying to this cycle, and students will be expected to do summer research in Summer 2023, continue the research through the Fall and Spring, and then complete another summer of research in Summer 2024.  Questions can be directed to Joshua Pierce

Faculty Mentors
(note that students can only work with faculty from this list as part of Beckman Scholars Program requirements)

Erin Baker
Chemistry
ebaker@ncsu.edu
website

Ashley Brown
Biomedical Engineering
aecarso2@ncsu.edu
website

Colleen Doherty
Biochemistry
cjdohert@ncsu.edu
website

Reza Ghiladi
Chemistry
raghilad@ncsu.edu
website

Albert Keung
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
ajkeung@ncsu.edu
website

John Meitzen
Biological Sciences
jemeitze@ncsu.edu
website

David Muddiman
Chemistry
dcmuddim@ncsu.edu
website

Joshua Pierce
Chemistry, Program Director
jgpierce@ncsu.edu
website

Caroline Proulx
Chemistry
cproulx@ncsu.edu
website

Balaji Rao
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
bmrao@ncsu.edu
website

Lauren Schnabel
Clinical Sciences
lvschnab@ncsu.edu
website

Melanie Simpson
Biochemistry
msimpso3@ncsu.edu
website

Rob Smart
Toxicology
rcsmart@ncsu.edu
website

Leslie Sombers
Chemistry
lasomber@ncsu.edu
website

Gavin Williams
Chemistry
gjwillia@ncsu.edu
website