Rachel Neal, PhD, Cynthia Corbitt, PhD, and Mikus Abolins-Abols, PhD, Lead Successful Launch of KEEP Summer Program, Celebrating Student Achievements

Biology professors and CIEHS members Drs. Rachel Neal, Cynthia Corbitt, Mikus Abolins-Abols, along with their students, successfully concluded the first KEEP Summer Program in August 2024. The program's finale featured poster presentations at the undergraduate symposium, where students Gavin Phillips and Aubrey Reitzel received awards for their outstanding posters. Both students will present their research at the Society of Toxicology (SOT) meeting. Additionally, Gavin delivered a three-minute thesis presentation to the Ohio Valley SOT Regional Chapter during the symposium.

Congratulations to the students and faculty for their achievements! KEEP: Kentucky Environmental Education Pipeline program will recruit and train undergraduate student researchers from historically marginalized populations for careers within the field of environmental health sciences. Key to the mentorship associated with this summer research opportunity program, we will offer access to specialized skills training sessions via ‘boot camps’ including a community-embedded air/soil sampling field trip. Faculty mentors and/or program directors will continue to provide career coaching and personalized mentorship until matriculation so that participants are fully integrated into an ongoing supportive community focused on degree completion, timely application to competitive graduate and professional school programs, and ultimately biomedical careers in environmental health sciences.