The Burroughs Wellcome Fund (BWF) has awarded Illinois Institute of Technology a $10,000 grant directed by BWF Board Member George Langford (M.S. BIOL ’69, Ph.D. ’71). The grant is intended to provide support for undergraduate research internships for underrepresented minority students in the College of Science.

According to Russell Betts, dean of the College of Science, the grant will be distributed as part of the annual College of Science Undergraduate Summer Research Stipend Program, which provides undergraduates with up to $5,000 to carry on research with College of Science faculty in the summer.

Langford is a distinguished cell biologist and neuroscientist who studies cellular mechanisms of learning and memory. He served on the National Science Board, the governing board of the National Science Foundation, from 1998 to 2004. Langford is dean emeritus of the College of Arts and Sciences and a professor of biology at Syracuse University. Before that, he was dean of the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics and distinguished professor of biology at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. He previously held leadership positions at Dartmouth College, Dartmouth Medical Center, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Howard University, University of Massachusetts-Boston, and the National Science Foundation.

The Burroughs Wellcome Fund is an independent private foundation dedicated to advancing the biomedical sciences by supporting research and other scientific and educational activities.