ARCS Foundation Awards 31 Fellowships to UC San Diego Graduate Students

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Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla joined representatives of the ARCS Foundation San Diego Chapter for a special check presentation ceremony, along with several of this year’s fellowship awardees.

The San Diego chapter of ARCS Foundation, Inc. awarded 31 UC San Diego graduate students with fellowship awards totaling $222,500 for the 2013-14 academic year. A national non-profit organization led entirely by women, the foundation seeks to support the growth of scholarship in science, engineering and medical research. Since 1987, the local chapter has given a total of $3.9 million in unrestricted funds to UC San Diego, which students may use to complete research, cover travel expenses or fulfill other financial obligations.

“These awards have enabled hundreds of students to conduct research that will ultimately help our community and transform lives,” said Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla. “We thank the ARCS Foundation for their commitment to our students and their leadership in promoting research.”

One of this year’s fellowship recipients, Karmel Allison is a doctoral student studying Type 1 diabetes in the department of bioinformatics and systems biology at UC San Diego. Formerly a software engineer, Allison was diagnosed with diabetes at age nine and wanted to learn more about her own condition. Several years ago she began working at a laboratory on campus and was soon inspired to pursue her graduate degree in computational biology. Karmel currently studies the function of genetic regions to gain insight into potential therapies for autoimmune diseases like Type 1 diabetes.

Karmel Allison

“It is an honor to be selected as a fellow and be associated with these talented ARCS scholars,” said Allison. “The fellowship support affords me more time and freedom to spend advancing my research instead of worrying about a means to fund my work.”

The ARCS Foundation has been providing financial awards to scholars like Allison since 1958 with the goal of sustaining and enhancing research in science, engineering and medicine in the U.S. The national organization is made up of 17 chapters, which together have awarded nearly $90 million to 54 institutions over the past 55 years. Awards benefit outstanding graduate and undergraduate scholars to support scientific advancement and foster scholastic potential.

“We believe in your potential to be game changers in your area of expertise,” remarked Virginia Chasey, vice president of university relations for the San Diego Chapter of the ARCS Foundation, during the check presentation awards ceremony on Oct. 11. “We care about you and want to support you so that you can see your research goals to completion.”

To learn more about the ARCS Foundation, click here. For more information about opportunities to support scholarships and fellowships at UC San Diego, click here.