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Scholarship ‘N’ Action, Nicholls State University’s research and mentoring program in the Department of Biological Sciences Undergraduate Research Training and Education, has received a $50,000 donation from BP.
“This program broadens students’ horizons regarding science careers and produces well-qualified science teachers who have research experience,” said professor of biological sciences Dr. Raj Boopathy. “Our program has several successful alumni who have gone on to graduate school and impressive careers. BP’s generous support will help make it possible for eight more students to participate in this year’s program.”
The program, aimed at improving the retention of first-generation freshmen and sophomores as well as minority and female science majors, pairs students with faculty mentors and peer mentors as they conduct laboratory and field research projects in disciplines like bioremediation, ecology, genetics, immunology, toxicology, ornithology and infectious diseases.
“I want to thank BP for helping with this program,” Boopathy said. “This money will help teach students basic lab skills, foster discussion in classrooms and widen student experience. This program is the basic foundation of science research at Nicholls.”
Boopathy is one of the department’s 20 faculty members who teach an average of 400 majors enrolled each year. The department has been nationally recognized in marine biology and genetics.
“BP is very proud to partner with Nicholls to continue this program and help keep students interested in the sciences,” said Al Ledet, manager of BP’s Preservation and Maintenance in Schriever. “We hope that these long-term relationships will help build up the next generation of mathematicians, engineers and scientists.”
Ledet, a 1982 graduate of Nicholls, has a personal tie to the strengthening of the university’s biology department – his son Dylan is a pre-medicine major at Nicholls.
BP’s donation will provide half of the program’s annual $100,000 budget, which was previously funded by a five-year Louisiana Board of Regents post-Katrina stimulus grant, and without the support, Nicholls would be tasked with raising private funds to cover student stipends, research supplies and travel funds.
Each year, $60,000 of the program’s budget goes toward stipends for 15 students so that they do not have to work while attending school, and another $30,000, or $2,000 a year per student, goes to research supplies like essential reagents, chemicals, enzymes, glasswares, plasticwares and field equipment kits. The last $10,000 of the budget covers expenses for students to travel for field research or attend professional scientific meetings.
“Days like this are important,” said Sen. Norby Chabert. “This donation will help the university be more of a leader in biological and environmental science. We’ve come a long way since I was a student here, and we still have a long way to go. This is a necessary investment to the future of the department, and I want to see this partnership grow.”
Sen. Norby Chabert, left, Dr. John Doucet, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Nicholls State University, Nicholls President Dr. Stephen T. Hulbert, Al Ledet, facility manager of BP Preservation and Maintenance Facility in Schriever, Leah Brown, director of government and public affairs at BP and Karl Connor, senior director of government and public affairs at BP, gather for a donation presentation at Nicholls. BP donated $50,000 to the university’s Department of Biological Sciences Scholarship ‘N’ Action research program.
