Robin Lammi Awarded First Major NSF-RUI Undergraduate Research
Grant in Winthrop’s History
20 May 2009. The National Science Foundation notified
Winthrop President DiGiorgio today that Dr. Robin Lammi, Assistant Professor of Chemistry and INBRE target
faculty, was awarded $251,274 for her proposed undergraduate-centered research
project "Probing Early Events in Amyloid-b Association by
Single-Pair Forster Resonance Energy Transfer." The grant provides
materials, summer and academic year student stipends, and funds for conference
presentations over the next three years.
At Winthrop, Lammi and
her students have assembled one of the few single molecule spectroscopy setups
in the Southeast and have begun exploiting this capability to better understand
physical processes that occur at the molecular level during early stages of
Alzheimer’s disease. Two of Lammi’s former Winthrop
research students are currently enrolled in PhD chemistry programs at Clemson
and USC. A third is matriculating this
fall into the world reknown SHERP science writing
program at NYU.
Dr. Lammi
arrived at Winthrop in 2003 after completing PhD
studies with Dewey Holton at Washington
University in fluorescence spectroscopy
and a postdoctoral fellowship in single molecule spectroscopy at Paul
Barbara’s lab in Texas. She has developed and taught new courses in
introductory and advanced inorganic chemistry.
Over the past five years,
Robin Lammi has personally spearheaded Chemistry at Winthrop’s
engagement and program focus on undergraduate research. As director of undergraduate research, Dr. Lammi developed and implemented a research-committee based, two-semester undergraduate research experience that
emulates practices used in PhD chemistry programs. Dr. Lammi was
recently selected by Winthrop
University for promotion
to Associate Professor of Chemistry effective in August.
For the past four years,
Dr. Lammi has been a Winthrop NIH-INBRE target
faculty member; the central goal of INBRE has been to develop junior faculty
research competitiveness. The historic
awarding of Winthrop’s first major NSF-RUI
provides evidence of continued success in Winthrop
University’s comprehensive and
widely-acclaimed NIH-INBRE program that has dramatically expanded Winthrop student
engagement in undergraduate research on a year-round basis. Undergraduate research continues to be the
most effective form of student learning, the best preparation for graduate
work, and the gold standard for quality science education at the nation’s
finest undergraduate institutions.