Hampton University News April 13, 2016 HU hires researchers under NSF PREM grant to increase number of minority, underrepresented scientists Hampton University is pleased to announce that Dr. Stefan Malone Cooper, Jr. and Dr. Marcos J. Guerrero-Munoz have joined the HU Department of Engineering as research assistant professors under a National Science Foundation PREM grant. The grant is designed to increase the number of minority and underrepresented STEM professors at colleges and universities. Dr. Stefan Malone Cooper, Jr is developing photosensitive micelles for drug delivery applications under the PREM grant. He is native of Sumter, SC and obtained a B.S. in chemistry from College of Charleston in Charleston, S.C. and Ph.D. in synthetic organic chemistry from Louisiana State University. His dissertation is entitled: "Trans-Positioning" carbons within strained caged bicyclic(s): ROM/RCM (Ring-opening/Ring-closing) metathesis and Dieckmann/retro-Dieckmann condensation routes to a cis-declain infrastructure." Cooper conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Maryland in College park, MD under Dr. Herman O. Sintim. "I am proud to be a part of PREM and its efforts in increasing broader participation by all groups. To have funds and personnel allotted to increase our numbers in the college teaching profession is outstanding," said Cooper. Dr. Marcos J. Guerrero-Munoz will focus on the study of structural features of IDP in health and degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and type 2 diabetes mellitus. He is a native of Nuevo Leon, Mexico and obtained a B.S. in biological and pharmaceutical chemistry at Autonomous University of Nuevo Leon, Mexico, where he also received a MSc. in molecular biology and Ph.D. in morphology. Guerrero-Munoz obtained postdoctoral training at the University of Texas Medical Branch and Baylor College of Medicine where he was focused on the study of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDP). Awarded through a highly competitive process, the project is entitled "Hampton-Brandeis Partnership for Research and Education in Materials (PREM)" and is under the direction of Hampton University's Dr. Raymond Samuel and Dr. Deidre Gibson and Brandeis University's Dr. Seth Fraden. The Hampton PREM's primary goals are to bolster HU faculty materials science research activities, and to catalyze the recruitment and retention of talented students under-represented in STEM pursuing research careers in materials science and engineering fields. The National Science Foundation grant was awarded to Hampton University research and is a renewable 5-year $3.0 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Materials Research's Partnership for Research in Education and Materials (PREM) program. This funding expands an established collaboration between Hampton University-based materials science researchers and colleagues at the Brandeis University Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC). The Hampton PREM award of $600,000 per year will support collaborative research, education, training and outreach activities of the Hampton University faculty, post-doctoral fellows, graduate students, undergraduate students and high school students from Governors' School for Science and Technology (GSST). SANDRA M. PHOENIX Executive Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> 800-999-8558, ext. 4820 404-592-4820 Skype: sandra.phoenix1 Follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/hbculibraryalliance1/ 1438 West Peachtree NW Suite 200 Atlanta,GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (LYRASIS) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org<http://www.lyrasis.org/> Honor the ancestors, honor the children.