Russell Ledet earns another major national scholarship

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

Ledet 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. Ledet 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, Ledet 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.

Ledet is also the winner of the Educational Testing Service Presidential Scholarship for HBCU students for the academic year 2011-2012.

He is a 2004 graduate of Lake Charles Boston High School and has served in the U.S. Military.