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Meyerhoff Scholarship Program TimelineIn just 20 years, the Meyerhoff Scholarship Program has grown from a bold experiment - a seed of an idea planted with the generous support of Robert and Jane Meyerhoff - to a nationally-recognized model for advancing STEM knowledge regardless of race, class or culture.We invite you to learn more about the substantial accomplishments of the Meyerhoff Scholarship Program, its alumni and its students. Please feel free to offer suggestions for additions to this timeline by e-mailing erbaker@umbc.edu. 1988The Meyerhoff Scholarship Program begins with generous support from Robert and Jane Meyerhoff to provide financial assistance, mentoring, advising, and research experience to African American male undergraduate students committed to obtaining Ph.D. degrees in math, science, and engineering. Robert and Jane Meyerhoff 1989The Meyerhoff Scholarship Program enrolls its first class of students, the M1 cohort of 19 freshmen. The first cohort of Meyerhoff Scholars, pictured with Mr. Meyerhoff (right) and Susan Boyer (center), former director of the Meyerhoff Scholarship Program 1990Women are first admitted to the program. Some of the first female Meyerhoff graduates Apple Computers, Inc., donates a computer to each member of the M3 cohort. The company also donated computers for the M4 and M5 cohorts. 1992The M4 cohort earns a 4.0 GPA across the board during their Summer Bridge classes.The Meyerhoff Parent Association is initiated by a group of M1, M2, and M3 parents, including original board members Carolyn King, Isabelle McCants, McCauley Stancil, Edy Brooks, Dr. Sidney Jones, Kathy Chase, and Shirley Watkins. 1993The first class of Meyerhoff Scholarship Program graduates goes on to graduate and professional programs at Northwestern, Princeton, Penn State, North Carolina State University, and the University of Pennsylvania, among others.The Eli Lilly Company sponsors two students from Indiana, the first Meyerhoff Scholars to come to UMBC from outside of Maryland. UMBC awards Mr. Meyerhoff an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree. 1994Working with UMBC Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator Dr. Michael Summers, Chianna Paschall M4, chemistry, creates a model of one of the dozens of proteins that make up the HIV virus. Her model is featured on the cover of the November issue of the Journal of Molecular Biology. Chianna Paschall and Dr. Michael Summers, UMBC Magazine, Summer 1995 The Meyerhoff Scholarship Program creates an ongoing partnership with Dr. Thomas R. Cech, 1989 Nobel Laureate in chemistry, through which students complete research internships at his University of Colorado laboratory.  Dr. Thomas Cech poses with M4 Nefertiti Harmon. 1995Dr. Kenneth Maton, professor of psychology, and UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski publish their first study based on the Meyerhoff Scholars' experiences, "Enhancing the success of African-American students in the sciences: Freshman year outcomes," in School Science and Mathematics.1996The Meyerhoff Scholarship Program is opened to people of all backgrounds committed to increasing the representation of minorities in science and engineering.UMBC receives the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring from President Bill Clinton. Damon Tweedy M6 is the first Meyerhoff Scholar to graduate with a perfect 4.0 GPA. 1997The Meyerhoff Graduate Fellows Program begins, focusing on promoting cultural diversity in the biomedical sciences at the graduate level.A gift from the Meyerhoff Foundation establishes The Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Chair in Biochemistry at UMBC and biological sciences professor Suzanne Ostrand-Rosenberg is the first honored to hold this position. Diversity in Higher Education, Volume 1 publishes, "The recruitment and retention of talented African-Americans in science: The role of mentoring," by Dr. Charles Woolston, Dr. Hrabowski, and Dr. Maton. UMBC begins its partnership with The Leadership Alliance, a consortium of more than thirty of the nation's leading research and teaching academic institutions. 1998Oxford University Press publishes, Beating the Odds: Raising Academically Successful African American Males, based on research about the Meyerhoff Scholarship Program and co-authored by Dr. Hrabowski, Dr. Maton, and Dr. Geoffrey Greif. 1999The Meyerhoff Scholarship Program celebrates its tenth anniversary. Alumni of the Meyerhoff Scholarship Program at the 2000 Reunion. 2000Chester Hedgepeth M1, biological sciences, becomes the first African American student to receive an M.D./Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and the first Meyerhoff Scholar to achieve the degree.The Meyerhoff Scholarship Program begins an international partnership through the Fogarty MIRT Grant with Lancaster University in England, allowing students to participate either in a one-year exchange program or a summer research opportunity. Dr. Summers receives the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring in recognition of the substantive undergraduate research opportunities Meyerhoff Scholars and others obtain in his HHMI laboratory. The Journal of Research in Science Teaching publishes, "African-American college students excelling in the sciences: College and postcollege outcomes in the Meyerhoff Scholars Program," by Dr. Maton, Dr. Hrabowski, and C.L. Schmitt. 2002Overcoming the Odds: Raising Academically Successful African American Young Women, based on research about the Meyerhoff Scholarship Program, is co authored by Dr. Hrabowski, Dr. Maton, Dr. Monica Greene, and Dr. Greif.The Today Show features a segment about the Meyerhoff Scholarship Program. 2003Crystal Watkins M3, biological sciences, finishes her M.D./Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins University, becoming the first female Meyerhoff Scholar to achieve the degree.BEST (Building Engineering and Science Talent) cites the Meyerhoff Scholarship Program for its exceptional "Institutional Leadership" in a report to the United States Congress of best practices among university programs leading the way in training minorities in the sciences. A gift by the Meyerhoff Foundation establishes the Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Science Fund to support teaching and research in the life sciences at UMBC. 2005The Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Chemistry Building is dedicated in recognition of the Meyerhoffsí generosity and commitment to the universal benefits of education.Dr. Hrabowski and Dr. Summers are invited by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to discuss the success of the Meyerhoff Scholarship Program at a Symposium on Diversity in the Sciences, held at Harvard University. The following year, they speak again at the University of Louisiana Monroe and the University of Washington. 2006In an editorial titled, "Why American College Students Hate Science," the New York Times points to UMBC as an innovator in turning American college students into scientists.Dr. Hrabowski and Dr. Summers co-author a report entitled "Preparing Minority Scientists and Engineers" for Science magazine. The Howard Hughes Medical Institute awards UMBC a $2.2 million teaching grant to further develop the HHMI Scholars Program, a science education initiative that focuses on students from diverse backgrounds. 2007Isaac Matthews M15, mechanical engineering, a star on the UMBC Track and Field team, is named Arthur Ashe Male Sports Scholar of the Year by Diverse magazine. He is enrolled in the Ph.D. program in mechanical engineering at MIT. M15 Isaac Matthews, Arthur Ashe Male Sports Scholar of the Year The Civil Rights Project at UCLA publishes, "Opening an African-American STEM Program to talented students of all races: Evaluation of the Meyerhoff Scholars Program, 1991-2005," by Dr. Maton, Dr. Hrabowski, and M. Ozdemir. 2008Ebony magazine features Kafui Dzirasa M8, chemical engineering, in its "30 on the Rise" collection of 2008 Young Leaders of the Future. The magazine cited several of his UMBC achievements, including his studies as a Meyerhoff Scholar and a conference championship in the long jump. Ebony also noted that he received Duke's Somjen Award for Outstanding Dissertation Thesis.As of Spring 2008, 200 Meyerhoff Scholarship Program alumni have completed graduate degrees at prestigious universities across the nation. This group of graduates includes 66 who have earned Ph.D. or M.D./Ph.D degrees, more than 50 M.D.s, and nearly 100 who have earned master's or professional degrees in engineering and other STEM-related fields. An additional 250 alumni are currently enrolled in graduate and professional schools. |
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