Amanda Leigh Clark '11, a biochemistry major and Lumen Scholar from Skaneateles, N.Y., has received a $5,000 fellowship award from the Phi Kappa Phi national academic honor society to help fund her graduate studies at the University of Rochester School of Medicine.
Phi Kappa Phi every year awards 57 fellowships of $5,000 each, and three at $15,000 each, from a pool of nominees put forward by individual chapters. One hundred and seventy five nominees competed this spring for the fellowships.
Professor Kathy Lyday-Lee oversaw the fellowship application process at Elon University.
Clark, who graduated Magna Cum Laude on May 21, participated in the SURE undergraduate research program in 2008, working on Elon’s campus with associate professor Kathy Matera, and in 2009 she took part in the Summer Research Training Program at the University of California at San Francisco. An Elon College Fellow and an Elon Presidential Scholar recipient, she received the CRC Freshman Achievement in Chemistry Award three years ago and is a member of Beta Beta Beta, an honorary biology club. Clark is also involved with Phi Eta Sigma, and she is a member of Omicron Delta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi.
She twice received an honorable mention in the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship Program, a national competition that awards scholarships to students planning for careers in science, math or engineering.
Clark focused her Lumen Prize research on identifying some ways that heart disease develops, which could in turn lead to better treatments.