August 18, 1994 Contact: Robert Irion (408/459-2495)

GRADUATE SCIENCE STUDENTS AT UC SANTA CRUZ TO RECEIVE $520,000 FROM FEDERAL PROGRAM

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SANTA CRUZ, CA--The U.S. Department of Education has awarded two grants totaling $520,146 to the University of California, Santa Cruz, to support 22 graduate students, especially women and minorities, in the fields of biology and physics.

The grants are part of a Department of Education program called Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need, or GAANN. According to the program manager, GAANN fellowships go to graduate students of superior ability who plan careers in teaching or research, "to sustain and enhance the nation's capacity for teaching and research in designated academic areas."

Thirteen UCSC graduate students in biology and nine in physics will receive fellowships for the 1994-95 school year. Each student will receive a $14,400 stipend and $9,243 to cover tuition, fees, and other educational costs. As they proceed toward their doctoral degrees, the students will be eligible for an additional two years of GAANN support.

"This is the first year we have applied to the GAANN program, and we are delighted to receive fellowships in two academic areas," says Ronaldo Ramirez, assistant to the dean of the Division of Graduate Studies. "The fellowships will help us attract new and talented graduate students to UCSC. They also will allow us to use other fellowship funds to support students who currently receive less financial support."

Ramirez notes that UCSC already receives nearly $400,000 per year from the Department of Education under the Patricia Roberts Harris Fellowship Program. Those funds support eighteen women and minorities pursuing graduate degrees in the natural sciences.

For the 1994-95 GAANN program, the academic areas targeted by the Department of Education were biology, chemistry, foreign languages, engineering, mathematics, and physics. Program administrators awarded 80 new grants, totaling $18.3 million, to universities nationwide, as well as 46 noncompeting continuation grants worth $9 million.

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