Eileen Jaffe, PhD

Professor Program Director

Eileen.Jaffe@fccc.edu  215-728-3695

2009 FCCC Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship

Summer Students Discover Mentored Research Experiences

Funding Supplemented by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

With the end of the college academic year Fox Chase gets an annual influx of talented undergraduates for summer research experiences.  This successful program, coordinated by Dr. Eileen Jaffe, invites students to find a Fox Chase mentor and have that mentor nominate the student for summer work in the laboratory or program.  In 2009, 14 students had funded projects; they came from local institutions like West Chester University, Arcadia University and the University of Pennsylvania as well as from far-flung places like Queen’s University (Kingston, Ontario) and the University of Edinburgh (Scotland).

Student	Sponsor
Chan, Emily Queen’s University, Kingston, ON	Richard R. Hardy, PhD
Feng, Ruoxue (Snow) Penn State University	John M. Taylor, PhD
Fisher, Megan University of Delaware	David L. Wiest, PhD
German, Rachel University of Michigan – Ann Arbor	Pamela J. Shapiro, PhD (ARRA Supplement)
Kaunga, Esther Lincoln University	Margie Clapper, PhD (FCCC) Karen Baskerville, PhD (Lincoln)
King, Nuradiyn Lincoln University	Linda Fleisher, MPH, PhD(c) (FCCC) Delroy Louden, PhD, FRSH (Lincoln)
Kirbach, Kyleigh Illinois Wesleyan University	Eileen Jaffe, PhD
Lennartz-Walker, Melissa University of Edinburgh, UK	Jonathan Chernoff, MD, PhD
Morris, Jennifer Lincoln University	Carolyn Fang, PhD (FCCC) Penelope Kinsey, PhD (Lincoln)
Oblacznski, Megan Georgetown University	Rosalia Viterbo, MD
Phillips, Randy Arcadia University	Erica Golemis, PhD
Shpilsky, Dan Muhlenberg College	Tim Yen, PhD
Taylor, Justin Lincoln University	Kuang-Yi Wen, PhD (FCCC) Denise Gaither-Hardy (Lincoln)
Zinshteyn, Daniel University of Pennsylvania	Alana M. O’Reilly, PhD

This year the supplemental funding to the National Cancer Institute from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (also known as the “Stimulus Package”) has helped increase the number of students Fox Chase can support.  Pamela Shapiro, PhD, studies the nature and frequency of cognitive difficulties women with breast cancer experience and the real-life context in which these difficulties occur.  An ARRA supplement provided a 10-week structured summer research experience for Rachel German, who just completed her sophomore year as a Brain Behavior and Cognitive Science major at the University of Michigan.  Also, the Lincoln University–Fox Chase Partnership in Cancer Research and Training is benefiting from an ARRA supplement.  Four Lincoln students and their faculty mentors will be working with Fox Chase investigators supported by a supplement to our P20 Minority Institution–Cancer Center Partnership Project.

In addition to the Fellowship program

There are two alternate ways for undergraduate students to be involved in summer research. The student can volunteer or the student can be hired as a summer assistant. Students are highly encouraged to review the research areas and contact faculty whose research interests them. In general students are more successful at finding positions by contacting faculty directly. Some students do however gain summer laboratory opportunities through the volunteer office or through human resources.