April 1, 2005
Clark Undergrad Alvarez, of Fremont, wins First at Harvard Biomedical Sciences Conference
Clark seniors Nichole Willy and Elysia Alvarez joined scholars presenting research at the New England Science Symposium (NESS) March 4 at Harvard Medical School. Alvarez’s first-place honor was the only one awarded to an undergraduate student.
WORCESTER, MA -- Elysia M. Alvarez, a Clark University senior from Fremont, CA, was awarded first place for her poster presentation “Computational Analyses of the Interaction of the Anthrax Lethal Factor Exotoxin with Peptide Substrate and with the Anthrax Protective Antigen” at the New England Science Symposium (NESS), on March 4 at Harvard Medical School.
Of the six awards given out at the symposium, Alvarez’s first-place honor, the Ruth and William Slien, M.D. Award, was the only one awarded to an undergraduate student. The award included a $300 prize.
Alvarez joined 51 other researchers presenting posters at the event. Twenty-one presenters were undergraduates and the rest were Ph.D. or M.D. candidates or post-doctoral students. "I was very impressed with the other conference attendees,” she says. “It was a very diverse group of individuals, who were extremely intelligent and had accomplished so much in their research." She presented the research to two judges, a Ph.D. from Harvard University and a scientist from Genentech.
Alvarez derived the research through work with Clark University Chemistry Professor Don Nelson, which she began about a year ago. Professor Nelson describes Alvarez as a student with “motivation and drive.” He said she has made a substantial contribution to his research efforts and calls her accomplishment “truly amazing” in light of the competing graduate students and postdoctoral research fellows.
Her award was not the only thing she took from the symposium. Alvarez also had a chance to meet many leading researchers and employers from around the world. She says that while she has always wanted to be a medical doctor, her experience at this symposium and others like it has encouraged her to think about a career in research.
Alvarez majors in biochemistry and molecular biology. She is the daughter of Manuel and Connie Alvarez, of Fremont. She is a 2001 graduate of Presentation High School, in San Jose.
The Minority Faculty Development Program Office for Diversity and Community Partnership at the Harvard Medical School and the Biomedical Science Careers Program sponsored the NESS. The purpose of the symposium was to provide an opportunity for post-doctoral fellows and students engaged in biomedical or health-related scientific research at all levels, from undergraduate to post-doctoral studies, to present their research projects in oral presentations or poster sessions.
Clark University is a private, co-educational liberal-arts research university with 2,000 undergraduate and 600 graduate students. Since its founding in 1887 as the first all-graduate school in New England, Clark has challenged convention with innovative programs such as the International Studies Stream, the Strassler Family Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies and the five-year BA/MA programs with the fifth year tuition-free for eligible students.
Jane Salerno
Assistant Director, Media Relations
Clark University
(508) 793-7554
jsalerno@clarku.edu
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