As a 2007 Amgen Scholar, Lillia Cherkasskiy worked in Rebecca Saxe's group at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
This summer and fall, nine Amgen Scholar alumni from the United States and four from Europe are flying to scientific conferences all over the world — including Japan, England, Spain and the United States — thanks to the new Amgen Scholars Alumni Travel Award, which supports former Scholars to present the research they've done since completing the program.
Conferences are a crucial part of becoming a scientist: they help graduate students (and even undergraduates) develop presentation skills, gain exposure to a wide range of research and make new contacts that can lead to new collaborations and career opportunities, says Dr. Andrea Kells, Administratorof the European Coordinating Centre for the Amgen Scholars Program. Recognizing the value of scientific meetings, the Amgen Scholars Program has awarded a total of over $12,000 to nine U.S. Amgen Scholar alumni and £2,000 to four European Amgen Scholar alumni who are now graduate students in scientific fields.
"The award is a great development, and underlines the commitment of the Amgen Foundation to supporting the best and brightest young scientists," Kells says. "The conferences attended will hopefully have direct positive impacts on the research of the recipients, and raise their scientific ambitions even higher."
One of 13 scholars selected for the award, Lillia Cherkasskiy will present her Ph.D. research at a meeting hosted by the International Society for Research on Emotion in Kyoto, Japan, in late July. A 2007 Amgen Scholar alumna and third-year graduate student at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, Cherkasskiy attended the same conference two years ago in Belgium to meet new colleagues and learn about the latest research in the field. As an Amgen Scholar, Lillia Cherkasskiy worked in Rebecca Saxe's group at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
"I was excited about coming back and presenting two years later, but when I heard it was in Japan, I thought I couldn't go because it is so expensive," she says. Through a competitive process, the Program awarded Cherkasskiy $2,500, which will allow her to present her findings that suggest a new relationship between motivation and emotion. In particular, her research shows that people proactively pursue emotions such as pride. "It's not just that we feel something therefore we do some action—it's that we want to feel proud of ourselves, therefore we persevere, or work hard at something in order to feel pride," she says.
While in Kyoto, Cherkasskiy plans to meet a Japanese collaborator in person for the first time. She's also hoping to make new connections. Although the conference is small — only about 300 or 400 people attend — it's one of the biggest events in the field of emotion research.
Several awardees have already attended their conferences on topics ranging from zebrafish models to treatment tools for psychiatric disorders to the mechanisms of influenza.
As a 2007 Amgen Scholar, Iris Pang worked in the lab of Alexander Rudensky at the University of Washington in Seattle.
A third-year graduate student in immunobiology, Iris Pang recently returned from Hong Kong, where she presented her Ph.D. work on how immune cells recognize influenza and trigger a protective immune response. As a 2007 Amgen Scholar, Iris Pang worked in the lab of Alexander Rudensky at the University of Washington in Seattle.
At the Keystone Symposium, "Pathogenesis of Influenza: Virus-Host Interactions," Pang gave both an oral and poster presentation of her work in Akiko Iwasaki's group. The group uncovered a molecular pathway key for immune responses that may also inform the development of new influenza vaccines and other therapies.
"I liked how international this conference was," says Pang, who studies at Yale University. "It really brought together experts from all parts of the world, including countries that are especially affected by influenza virus."
Originally from Hong Kong, Pang has considered moving back after she obtains her doctoral degree. The conference gave her a chance to meet professors and explore the immunology and virology research being done at the local universities. "It's helpful, and now I'm aware of the many opportunities over there," she says.
More Scholar alumni like Pang and Cherkasskiy will soon have a chance to travel nationally and internationally for scientific conferences. The Program plans to offer the awards next year, and U.S. alumni will have a second opportunity to apply this August.
The alumni network has grown considerably since the Program welcomed its first cohort in 2007; as of fall 2010, 279 former Scholars have gone on to graduate programs in science, engineering and related fields. (See the 2010 Annual Report for more details on Scholar alumni.)
"Through the [travel award] applications we received, it’s been great to see the diversity of Ph.D. projects that Amgen Scholars alumni have gone on to take," Kells says. "It’s clear that the Program itself is having an impact right across the biological sciences and beyond."
