Funding the next generation of scholars

Twenty undergraduates from around the world will have the chance to get hands-on experience in Harvard labs this summer, thanks to a four-year renewable grant to expand the Amgen Scholars Program to the University.

The program, supported by the Amgen Foundation, aims to inspire the next generation of innovators by providing undergraduates with hands-on summer research opportunities at many of the world’s premier educational institutions.

At Harvard, the program will be overseen by the Office of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships, and will be affiliated with the Summer Undergraduate Research Village, the residential community of young scholars. Participants will live on campus in Leverett House.

“We are excited and enthusiastic to collaborate with the Amgen Foundation to develop an intensive summer undergraduate research program that focuses on biotechnology,” said Richard McCullough, vice provost for research at the University. “We welcome the opportunity to share meaningful and formative research experiences with young scholars, building relationships with labs affiliated with the Wyss Institute, Harvard Catalyst, the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the Broad Institute, and academic departments in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.”

Harvard joins the California Institute of Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Columbia, Stanford, and Washington universities, the University of California campuses at Berkeley, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, and the National Institutes of Health in running an Amgen Scholars Program. The Amgen Foundation also announced additional host sites in Europe and Japan, providing greater access and opportunity for young scientists to engage in cutting-edge research across a wide range of scientific fields and to deepen their understanding of medical biotechnology.

The $19 million in grant funding announced this week will extend the scholars program through 2018, and support nearly 1,200 undergraduate students’ participation in the United States, Europe, or Japan. Students in the United States and Europe can apply to universities in their respective regions, while students from around the world are eligible to apply to the program in Japan.

“Amgen has seen the influence of the Amgen Scholars Program over the past eight years as alumni have gone on to earn Ph.D.’s, be accepted as Rhodes Scholars, and to work as scientists at leading educational institutions,” said Eduardo Cetlin, president of the Amgen Foundation. “We are proud to extend our network of premier world-class educational institutions and offer even more undergraduates this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that deepens their love of science.”