FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  February 3, 2015

For More Information:
Glenville State College
Public Relations Department
(304) 462-4115

GLENVILLE, WV - Glenville State College junior Tia LeMaster received a Carl T. and Merewyn D. Meadors Research Grant from Chi Beta Phi, a national science honorary. She will use the grant to purchase equipment to supplement her STEM research in organic chemistry under the direction of GSC Professor of Chemistry Dr. Kevin Evans.

LeMaster, a biology and chemistry student at GSC from Bunker Hill (Berkeley County), West Virginia, learned of the grant opportunity while attending the 67th Chi Beta Phi national conference and completed the application paperwork shortly thereafter. Notification that she had received the grant came in late January. LeMaster says that her interest in science began in high school and has only grown since coming to Glenville State College. After graduation she plans on going into a physician's assistant program.

Her research efforts on anti-Markovnikov hydrobromination of alkenes will be aided with the purchase of two quartz flasks thanks to the grant. LeMaster's research will take place along with six other GSC students under the NASA West Virginia Space Grant Consortium. They will work throughout the spring semester and into the summer as part of the program.

"The Meadors Research Grants are meant to encourage students to become actively involved in the scientific process by applying for support of, and then engaging in a project. Undergraduate research also serves as a way for students to distinguish themselves from other applicants to professional schools or jobs," said Dr. William Pohley who serves as President of the National Chi Beta Phi Science Honorary and is a Professor Emeritus of Biology at Franklin College.

The grants are named in honor of Carl T. and the late Merewyn D. Meadors to Chi Beta Phi. Both were heavily involved with the honorary and with student research while at Morris Harvey College (now University of Charleston) and they recognized the importance of research for student development in undergraduate science.

As a stipulation of receiving the grant, LeMaster will present her research at the 68th Chi Beta Phi national conference at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Virginia in October. Student presenters at the conference are judged on various criteria and the top three receive cash prizes. She has been a member of GSC's Alpha Iota chapter of Chi Beta Phi since last May.

She says one of her favorite things about being a student at GSC is the access to different facilities and equipment and how approachable the faculty members are. "If I have a question about something with my research or just a class in general, the professors are always available and willing to talk," she said.

For more information about science and math programs at Glenville State College, contact (304) 462-4126.