University of Richmond senior wins prestigious Marshall Scholarship
November 29, 2006
Katherine Weber, a University of Richmond senior from Coopersburg, Pa., has received a 2007 Marshall Scholarship, a highly competitive award that funds two years of post-graduate study in the United Kingdom.
A Marshall Scholarship covers a student’s tuition, fees, living expenses and travel and may be renewed for a third year in some cases. Approximately 40 Marshall Scholarships are awarded each year.
Weber is the first Richmond student to receive a Marshall Scholarship. She expects to use it to study for a Ph.D. in molecular biology at the Medical Research Council’s Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB), which grants degrees through the University of Cambridge. She is a biochemistry major at Richmond.
“Katie is blessed with extraordinary gifts. She is a brilliant student who is destined to a lifetime of significant accomplishment,” commented Andrew Newcomb, dean of Richmond’s School of Arts and Sciences. “She is also a dedicated athlete and an accomplished artist. Katie upholds the finest of Richmond’s traditions of character, commitment and community.”
Weber is currently conducting research with Joe Gindhart, associate professor of biology at Richmond, with whom she is studying a protein essential for the development of fruit fly embryos. She will present her work at a conference of the American Society for Cell Biology in San Diego in December.
“Katie is one of the most dedicated and talented undergraduates I have known. Receiving a Marshall Scholarship attests to Katie's willingness to give 100 percent to everything she does. Her research of the Drosophila melanogaster gene Chindogu helps us better understand the mechanisms controlling intracellular transport.I look forward to following her career, because Katie has the potential to be a great scientist,” said Gindhart.
Weber also spent three semesters studying human glioblastomas (brain tumors) in the lab of Valerie Kish, professor of biology. In addition, she has conducted research at Muhlenberg College in the lab of biology professor Bruce Wightman. She is listed as a co-author of a paper about work conducted in Wightman’s lab, and she presented her work from that lab at a national scientific conference.
“The hard work of faculty to meet students’ needs and devote their time to close interaction with and mentorship of students is what I value most about my Richmond education,” said Weber. “I certainly wouldn’t have won this award without the role they played in challenging and encouraging me in my development as a scientist and independent thinker.”
Marshall Scholarships were created in 1953 by the British Parliament to express Britain’s gratitude to the American people for the Marshall Plan.