Front row left to right: UOG student Chasy Amado, 2015 Father Duenas Memorial School graduate Tristan V.C. Paulino, incoming Senior at the Academy of Our Lady of Guam Anna Kate Aragon, 2015 George Washington High School graduate Joseph Casilia, and 2015 George Washington High School graduate Victoria Flisco. Back row left to right: UOG STEP-UP Coordinator/Program Coordinator IV Kristina Sayama, Guam Department of Education Superintendent Jon Fernandez, UOG College of Natural and Applied Sciences Professor Dr. Chris Lobban, University of Guam Assistant Vice President Dr. John A. Peterson; Dr. Tim Righetti from UOG College of Natural & Applied Sciences, Dr. Laura Biggs from UOG College of Natural & Applied Sciences, NIH/NIDDK Director of the Office of Minority Health Research Coordination Dr. Lawrence Agadoa, and Dr. Mari Marutani from UOG College of Natural & Applied Sciences. Not pictured is University of Hawaii/Pacific STEP-UP Director Dr. George Hui.

 

Five students completed an eight-week internship at the University of Guam sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disorders (NIH/NIDDK). 

The Short-Term Research for Underrepresented Persons program is a summer internship that provides high school and undergraduate students interested in exploring research careers the opportunity to work in a research facility to gain practical laboratory experiences under the supervision of a research mentor.

The University of Guam has been a local collaborator with NIH/NIDDK STEP-UP since 2003. The Guam 2015 NIH/NIDDK STEP UP Symposium was held on July 27th at the Jesus and Eugenia Leon Guerrero School of Business and Public Administration Building to highlight the research projects the student interns did over the summer. In addition to gaining laboratory experience, students in this program also received a stipend and two students, Tristan Paulino and Joseph Casilia, attended the National STEP-UP Symposium at NIH in Bethesda, MD. 

The STEP-UP Program is offered each summer and applications are accepted annually from November 15 through February 15.

Interested students should visit: http://stepup.jabsom.hawaii.edu/hawaii/hawaii_home.html.