Hope College has received a third consecutive award for student research from the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation of Irvine, Calif.

Hope is one of only five liberal arts colleges and one of only 13 institutions nationwide to receive a "Beckman Scholar Award" for 2002. Hope also received awards in 1998, the year that the program began, and 2000.

The foundation established the Beckman Scholars Program to enhance the training of the nation's most talented and gifted undergraduates in chemistry and the biological sciences by providing sustained, in-depth laboratory research experiences with faculty mentors.

The $70,400 award to Hope will support a total of four students across the next three years as they conduct research in the biological sciences, biochemistry or chemistry. The award will support the students as they conduct research with faculty members full-time during two summers and part-time during the intervening school year.

The students will be biology, biochemistry or chemistry majors who will be juniors at the start of the school year following their initial summer experience. They will be expected to stay involved in research at Hope as seniors, and if they wish will even be able to continue during the summer following graduation.

In addition to providing stipends for the students, the award also includes funding for related supplies and travel. The foundation hosts an annual research symposium for the program's student scholars and their faculty mentors each summer.

The Beckman Scholars are among scores of students who conduct research in the sciences at Hope during both the summer and the school year. There were approximately 130 students engaged in such research during the summer of 2001 alone.

The Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation was established in 1977. The foundation supports leading-edge research in chemistry and the life sciences, and fosters the invention of methods, instruments and materials to open new avenues of research and application in those disciplines and related sciences. The foundation's support of education ranges from programs for elementary-age students to support for young scientists engaged in research at universities and research institutes.

This year's proposal from Hope was written and submitted by Dr. Christopher Barney, professor of biology. In addition to Hope, the colleges and universities to receive Beckman Scholars Program Awards for 2002 are: Boston University; California State University, Los Angeles; Duke University; Furman College; Haverford College; San Francisco State University; Smith College; the University of California, Los Angeles; the University of Delaware; the University of Kentucky; Washington University; and Wellesley College.