This website uses cookies to ensure site visitors get the best experience on our website. By continuing to use this site, you accept our use of cookies and Privacy Statement. To find out more, please visit Southern University's Privacy Statement.

I agree

Fernandez receives scholarship for his academic achievements

Southern University senior physics major, Desmond Fernandez, has been selected as one of eight recipients for the Educational Testing Service- Presidential Scholarship Award for Historically Black Colleges and Universities Students for the academic year of 2012-2013.

The ETS Presidential Scholarship Award will pay Fernandez’s tuition for the fall and spring semesters of 2012-2013. To maintain the scholarship, Fernandez must maintain a 3.0 grade point average.

Fernandez must also present a paper focusing on a problem in the physics area at a forum held in early 2013 at ETS office in Princeton, New Jersey.

The Donaldsonville native was also one of two recipients in the country to be awarded the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) MUSE Program Award for Undergraduates in March.  AAPM provides the best hospitals in the country for the recipients to choose from for a summer research fellowship.

The 21 year-old was selected to conduct research this summer at the famous Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. His work was under the supervision of Dr. Chris Beltran, a radiation oncologist.

“This experience is one of the limited numbers of opportunities to gain experience in medical physics as an undergraduate,” says Fernandez.  “I able to work and conduct research at one of the top three hospitals in the country and enjoy their facility.”

Fernandez’s research this summer on “Proton Treatment of Pediatric Brain Tumors” includes him generating two publications after completing his time at the Mayo Clinic.

Fernandez says he plans to pursue a doctorate in medical physics.