Trinity Earns Coveted Beckman Scholars Program Award

This spring, Trinity University became one of 14 schools in the nation to earn a spot in the Beckman Scholars Program.

This prestigious award, distributed by the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation, is awarded to an incredibly selective list of U.S. colleges and universities conducting research in chemistry and the life sciences. The honor includes funding to support six scholar-mentor research pairs, with two scholars named per year for the next three-year award term. 

Biology professor Gerard Beaudoin ’99, Ph.D., and chemistry professor Rebecca Rapf, Ph.D., who have managed Trinity’s grant application, note that the award represents Trinity’s outstanding track record of sustained success in student achievement and faculty mentorship. Trinity faculty and students have been Beckman Scholars since the 1990s, and the current award represents an unusual back-to-back honor, with chemistry professor Christina Cooley, Ph.D., wrapping up the previously-awarded class.

“One of the things that makes Trinity competitive is the outcomes of previous Beckman Scholars,” Rapf says. “Our students go on to be leaders in the biomedical field. A lot of Tigers are going to grad school, as well as going to medical school to become doctors. So, we really are able to select students who have excellent prospects to be future leaders.”

Julia Stall ’27, a neuroscience and anthropology double major from Dallas, and Kathryn Wheeler ’26, a biochemistry major from Austin, Texas, are the first two awardees of the six-person class allotted by this award. They’ll conduct their research with neuroscience professor Kah-Chung Leong, Ph.D., and chemistry chair Corina Maeder ’99, Ph.D., respectively.

Beaudoin says these faculty-student partnerships are typical of the strong opportunities that Trinity gives its undergraduates: “The Beckman Scholars program really does recognize the strength of the mentors we can select, as well as our pool of student applicants.”

Stall and Wheeler will spend the next year and a half, including one academic year and two summers, with their research fully supported by the grant. This grant also provides funding for travel to various conferences, including the Beckman conference in Irvine, California.

 “Some of the scientists that attend the Beckman conference are of Nobel Laureate-type caliber, and so as a networking opportunity, that cannot be understated,” Beaudoin says.

This is the type of opportunity that brought Stall and Wheeler to Trinity: the chance to do big-time research in a personalized environment.

Stall, who was driving to Austin with friends when she saw her “congratulations” message, is “beyond excited” for the award.

“I'm looking to pursue my Ph.D. in neuroscience after undergrad. This award would give me 15 months of funded research experience, where I get to stay each summer to continue my research. This just was the dream to me,” she says. 

Stall will use her Beckman award to study addiction, specifically proposing a look into the neural mechanisms underlying social interactions, a perfect fit for her two majors. “As a double major in Neuroscience and anthropology, it seems like there's very little overlap between those,” she says. “This project changes that. I want to help people, and I think a lot of the research we do in Dr. Leong's lab is trying to find translationally relevant treatment models for people with addictions. That’s something that matters.”

A hidden benefit of the award, Stall notes, is getting to design her own experiment.

“I came to Trinity in the first place to have hands-on experience with research. A lot of the time, especially at my age, you wait until maybe your junior and senior year to really begin building a project, your own experiment,” Stall says. “As a sophomore, I now have the chance to quite literally create my own project and go through the nitty-gritty of the research process, which is such a cool experience. That's something that a lot of other Ph.D. candidates, especially at big schools, aren't going to get.”

Wheeler, on the other hand, will be working in Maeder’s lab, focusing on the Dib1 protein. The team will be characterizing the stability of the protein and trying to find critical interactions and residues.

“I really, really love the research that I'm doing,” Wheeler says. “I enjoy the problem-solving aspect of it, and I also think it’s really cool that I’m getting to contribute my own ideas and thoughts to something that is advancing real science.”

Wheeler also wants to continue researching in the biochemistry field after graduating, and this award is a crucial step toward that future.

“This is just very exciting. This means that I get even more opportunities for conferences and sharing my work,” Wheeler says. “Obviously, this looks good on a resume, but I think what's even more important to me is the opportunities it's providing.”

What this type of opportunity represents, Wheeler adds, is something more than funding, equipment, or networking.

It represents an investment in herself.

“Designing a research project and actually carrying it out gives me more confidence in my research abilities and more experience at presenting my research,” she says. “That’s going to be essential in grad school, and while defending my thesis.”