The goal of the Porter Physiology Development Program
is to encourage diversity among students pursuing full-time studies toward
the PhD (or DSc) in the physiological sciences and to encourage their
participation in the American Physiological Society. The program provides
one to two year full-time graduate fellowships. The program is open to
underrepresented ethnic minority applicants who are citizens or permanent
residents of the United States or its territories. Progress reports were
received from eight of the nine 2005-2006 Porter Fellows.
New and Renewal Applications
This was the first year that only one deadline was in
effect for the Porter Fellowships. The number of new applications received
for Porter Fellowships continues to increase. A total of 14 new, one
deferred, and five renewal applications were received for the January 15
deadline. The Committee voted earlier to increase the stipend paid to the
Porter Fellows beginning with the 2006-2007 year to $20,772, consistent with
the NIH scale. This meant the Porter Fund would allow for a total of eight
awards for the 2006-2007 Fellowship period.
Review of Porter Fellowship Applications:
Again this year the Committee used a set of specific
criteria to assist in the review of applications. These were put into use
last year for the first time for the 2005-2006 Porter Fellowships. The
Porter Development Committee decided to renew all five of the renewal
applications, as well as the one deferred application from last year, which
allowed for only two applications to be funded out of the 13 new
applications (one applicant withdrew her application because of acceptance
into medical school).
Minority Travel Fellows Program
In December 2005, the Committee served as the review
panel for the APS Minority Travel Fellowship Awards. Fifty-two travel
fellows were funded to attend EB 2006 in San Francisco, CA. One additional
travel fellowship received funding to attend the summer 2004 APS conference.
Applications for the two fall APS conferences are currently being accepted.
Again this year, the Committee was pleased that former Porter Fellows and
past Travel Fellows volunteered to be mentors for the younger Travel
Fellows. Committee members noted the increase in minority physiologists as a
direct result of the APS programs.
Porter Reception
For the past few years, the Committee has held a
reception for Travel Fellows, their meeting mentors, and past and current
Porter and Travel Fellows. This was initiated with the goal of building
stronger connections between minority students and the larger community of
APS scientists, especially other minority scientists. The Porter reception
again this year was extremely successful with an increase in attendance;
more than 100 physiologists, overall, attended the event. A number of
Council members, including the APS President, Doug Eaton, were on hand to
meet the students and welcome them to the meeting. Importantly, the
reception continued for more than two hours as participants interacted and
networked with one another. In addition there was an increase in the number
of former Porter Fellows who attended, including those in more senior
positions.
APS Awards for Undergraduates at the Annual
Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS)
This meeting attracts more than 1,900 minority
undergraduate (87%) and graduate students (13%) across the country and
provides an opportunity to recruit students into the physiological sciences
and the APS. The APS, along with more than 280 graduate institutions and
professional associations, exhibited at the 2005 meeting in Atlanta, GA,
promoting graduate study in physiology and the APS programs for minority
students. The Committee requested and received $2,000 for eight $250 cash
awards for the most outstanding undergraduate presentations in physiology
research. Twenty judges, including APS members, Mike Brands, Medical
College of Georgia, Margaret Colden-Stanfield, Morehouse School of Medicine
and Barbara Horwitz, University of California-Davis, selected the winners
for their presentations:
ABRCMS has requested continued APS support of $2,000
for eight cash awards of $250. The awards provide an excellent opportunity
to encourage and support both minority undergraduate student research in
physiology and their transition to graduate work in the field. This will be
the fifth year of APS support for this very important event.