Jalyssa Wynder earns prestigious national science research award

Jalyssa Wynder, a junior chemistry major, has been chosen to receive a 2012 United Negro College Fund/Merck Undergraduate Science Research Scholarship Award for 2012-2013 academic year.

She won the award through a highly competitive national application and selection process involving hundreds of applicants.

The award included a summer internship which will include a scholarship, housing and travel.

 It will also involve Fellows Day activities. The Fellows Day event will be July 14-18 at the Normandy Farm Hotel and Conference Center in Blue Bell, Pa. Wynder will meet other award recipients at the undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral levels.

Award recipients are selected based on their grade point average (which must be at least a 3.3), their demonstrated interest in their own scientific education and a career in scientific research, and their ability to perform in a laboratory environment.

In addition to the scholarship, Wynder will be paired with a Merck mentor and participate in two different 10-12 week summer internships that will take place at a Merck research facility in either Rahway, N.J., West Point, Penn., or Boston, Mass. The first internship will take place this summer, with the other to take place next summer after graduation.

Wynder, a Baton Rouge native, is a graduate of Baton Rouge Magnet High School.