2008 STEM Scholars at Indiana University Bradford Woods Outdoor Education Center

Langston University senior Merrill Brouillette had no doubt about what he wanted to do this summer: go back to the future he envisions after graduation next May.

Merrill Brouillette

The Houston native is spending a second summer working in an Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) laboratory studying two proteins and their correlation with colon cancer cells. The research, headed by Brouillette's mentor and IU School of Medicine Professor Jian-Tian Zhang, holds out a promise for better medications - if not a cure - to treat colon cancer, a disease that kills an estimated 54,000 Americans annually.

Bryon Gipson

Brouillette's work in Zhang's lab is the result of a unique partnership between Indiana University and 11 historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). That partnership has already had a measure of success in fulfilling its promise to increase the number of minorities in the science, technology, engineering and math professions.

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Faculty, staff and students at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis are conducting relief efforts to help their counterparts at IUPUI's extension center in Columbus, Ind., a city hard hit by recent regional flooding.

The extension center, Indiana University-Purdue University Columbus, has an enrollment of about 1,200 students and is located about 45 miles southeast of Indianapolis. Many IUPUC students, staff and faculty have been affected by the regional flooding that has damaged and destroyed homes, businesses and roadways.

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David M Williamson has been with the University since August 1986. He works in the Purdue School of Engineering and Technology as the Director of the Freshman Technology area as well as Associate Professor of Computer and Information Technology.

Dave was diagnosed with prostate and bone cancer on the 23rd of December 2004. He has been battling his cancer ever since. In April 2008, his oncologist told him that there was nothing else that could be done for him. His bones aren't manufacturing enough blood, so he is now on a regiment of transfusions.

A blood drive for Williamson will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday, June 24, 2008. All blood types are needed. People should reserve a time slot for giving blood by emailing kdferrel@iupui.edu. The blood mobile will be parked under the business school, next to UCOL courtyard.

On Saturday, June 28, 2008, hundreds of bike riders again will take to the streets for a 20-mile late night jaunt around downtown Indianapolis, including the IUPUI campus. IUPUI students who live on campus, and medical personnel traveling to and from the IUPUI campus during ride hours should preview advised alternate travel directions.

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IUPUI student and popular sprint car driver Geoff Dodge (left) presents custom helmet to Fall Creek Elementary student Molly Simmons

Photo by Nena Ray, ThinkFirst

Popular sprint car driver and IUPUI student Geoff Dodge recently presented a custom bike helmet to the fourth-grader who created the helmet's graphic design.

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Associate Professor Kim D. White-Mills will participate in the 33rd Annual Summer Institute for Women in Higher Education Administration sponsored by Higher Education Resource Services.

The month-long residential training program is held on the campus of Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania. It offers women administrators and faculty intensive training in higher education administration and opportunities for professional development.

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In the fall semester 2008, 836 IUPUI students with outstanding academic performance will return to campus as IUPUI Road Scholars, Uday Sukhatme, executive vice chancellor and dean of the faculties, announced recently. These students will receive the prized perk for continuing undergraduate students - free parking for the semester.

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IU-Kenya: An upcoming episode of the PBS show "Religion and Ethics Newsweekly" will feature a story on USAID-AMPATH and Kenyans' inspired response to the post-election violence of this winter. PBS correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro and crew visited Eldoret this spring and spent several days interviewing AMPATH staff and patients, along with the many Kenyan friends who found physical and spiritual refuge inside the walls of the IU House during the worst of the crisis.

Check http://www.pbs.org/religion for local listings for when the show will air in your area, and for rebroadcast on the web after the show airs on TV. In central Indiana, the show is scheduled for broadcast at 6:30 p.m., Friday, June 20 on WFYI Channel 20.