The Ledford Scholars Program and the Appalachian College Association (ACA), a non-profit consortium of 33 private four-year liberal arts colleges, has awarded scholarships to two Brevard College juniors; Christian Humphries and RJ Everett.
Humphries and Everett worked with faculty mentors to submit applications for undergraduate research projects along with many other students across Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. The awards are a reflection of the strong research opportunities available to students at Brevard College.
Humphries, a Biology major and Health Science minor will conduct research on a manganese-based metal complex for use in antimicrobial photodynamic therapy with support from faculty mentor, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Dr. Hernan Biava. Humphries said, “Dr. Biava has provided incredibly helpful advice and guidance throughout my project thus far. Since the project I have chosen is quite technical in nature, it has been a great help to have an experienced mentor in the field.”
Dr. Biava’s doctoral research included manganese complexes, and Humphries’ research project was inspired by a conversation they had about the experience. Dr. Biava said, “Christian is a terrific student, so I felt honored when he asked me about carrying out this project. We were both delighted to know that Christian’s Ledford Scholarship application was successful and we are very grateful to the ACA for this opportunity.”
Everett is an Applied Physics major who will conduct research on the use and development of celestial navigation as an alternative to GPS navigation. Everett’s project is supported by Assistant Professor of Mathematics, Dr. Samuel Eastridge. Everett said, “Dr. Eastridge is a great teacher and Brevard College has been amazing. They’ve done everything they can to help me!”
Dr. Eastridge credits Associate Professor of Physics, Dr. Mike Castelaz with sparking Everett’s interest in celestial navigation during a visit to the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute. Dr. Eastridge said, “Both RJ and I were extremely excited to be given this opportunity to spend the summer focusing on this project. We hope to start making progress as soon as possible and think the project has a lot of potential.”
The ACA previously awarded grants to two Brevard College professors, Dr. Robert Cabin and Dr. Megan Kaiser for sabbaticals to strengthen experiential learning in the college’s Sustainable Agriculture and Elementary Education programs. For the 2022-2023 academic year, Dr. Kathryn Rasmussen received an ACA grant to conduct an examination of best strategies and practices for supporting student success in Brevard College mathematics courses.
Final reports of both student research projects will be due to the ACA in September 2022. The reports will include video presentations which will be posted on the ACA website.
Humphries added, “I am incredibly grateful to this campus and its faculty, as I would not have been able to reach for this goal without their tremendous support.”