Two seniors will study in England under prestigious scholarships

Katie Weber will study at Cambridge with her Marshall Scholarship.

Two Richmond seniors have won prestigious scholarships to study in England—one at Cambridge and the other at Oxford.

Katherine Weber of Coopersburg, Pa., received a 2007 Marshall Scholarship, a highly competitive award that funds two years of post-graduate study in the United Kingdom. She is the first Richmond student to receive one.

A Marshall Scholarship covers tuition, fees, living expenses and travel and is sometimes renewed for a third year. Approximately 40 Marshall Scholarships are awarded each year. Weber will work toward 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.

Sarah Remmert of Memphis, Tenn., will study chemistry at Magdalen College, University of Oxford, under a Clarendon Scholarship, which provides three years of tuition, fees and living expenses. She is a double major in chemistry and biochemistry-molecular biology and has minors in mathematics and physics.

She previously won a Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship, the premier undergraduate award in the fields of mathematics, natural sciences and engineering. She is a Beckman Scholar at Richmond, receiving funds for research and travel for two summers and the intervening academic year. In addition, she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa national honor society as a junior.

Remmert’s scholarship will cover tuition and fees as well as living expenses while at Oxford. She will study with Prof. David Clary, who conducts theoretical chemistry research and is president of Magdalen.

Both students have received accolades from Richmond faculty and administrators.

“Katie is blessed with extraordinary gifts. She is a brilliant student who is destined to a lifetime of significant accomplishment,” commented Dr. 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.”

Remmert’s chemistry advisor, Dr. Carol Parish, associate professor of chemistry, said she is a “gifted, disciplined young woman who has a mission in life—namely to ensure that she can apply her natural aptitude and passion for science to the betterment of humankind. As an undergraduate, Sarah has pursued and completed every task necessary to achieve the greatest success in the scientific community.”

Weber conducts research with Dr. Joe Gindhart, associate professor of biology, with whom she is studying a protein essential for the development of fruit fly embryos. She presented 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. 

Sarah Remmert will study at Oxford.

“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.”

Remmert was equally complimentary about the role of the University in her success. “I am extremely grateful for all of the encouragement that I have received from my professors and friends. The hardest part about accepting this scholarship is knowing that I have to leave the University of Richmond after four wonderful years.”