September 2024
🏆 Award season 🏆
We are proud to be introducing two annual Rise Up awards! We wanted to highlight the excellence within our programming and organization, focusing on individuals and groups who have exceeded expectations. We will recognize the winners and provide some background information on the individuals these awards are named after.
The Caplan Research Award for excellence in student scientific research is presented to one group of students each year that engaged with the program throughout, had novel ideas, presented confidently, worked well as a team, and excelled writing their manuscript. This prize is named after Dr. Arnold Caplan, who was a professor at Case Western Reserve University and a distinguished scientist. Dr. Caplan left an indelible mark on the field of regenerative medicine during a career spanning over five decades. He was the first to discover and describe mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), which became the basis for the success of virtually all regenerative therapies. Additionally, he published more than 400 studies relating to regenerative medicine and was one of the most highly regarded scientists in the field.
We are proud to honor this legacy of innovation and integrity by presenting the Caplan Research Award to the Evolution of Bacteria group at Garrett Morgan School of Engineering and Innovation! This group was interested in the mechanisms of antibiotic resistance in bacteria and how bacteria evolves. The group included Sadie Guder, who originated the idea and wrote the approved grant, Kaleb Colon, Ismael Reyes, Marrell Robinson, Nastat Wear, Johanna Bogan. You can read their research article on page 17 of the Journal of Young Scientists!
Caplan award winners!
Our second award, the Janel Callon Outreach Award, is given to a volunteer who is dedicated to consistent, meaningful interactions with students in the program. This award recognizes volunteers who are helping students through this process with encouragement and empowerment along with being present on a weekly basis. This award was created in honor of Janel Callon who is the co-founder and CEO of the Ichigo Foundation, a foundation that focuses on college access and success for people from under-resourced communities. A vital individual supporter of Rise Up, Janel has worked as a lawyer, counselor, college advisor, and Ichigo Foundation leader. We are grateful for her support!
The Janel Callon Outreach Award for the 2023-2024 school year is presented to Dr. Rowan Barker-Clarke! Born in the U.K., Rowan received a physics degree at the University of Oxford before joining the Brenton lab at the University of Cambridge. Currently, Rowan is a postdoc at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute who studies cancer from an evolutionary and data-driven perspective. This involves creating models and simulations of cancer to see how cells interact with each other in ways that might make them more resistant to treatments. Rowan volunteers as a Teaching Fellow and Scientific Officer, you could also find him playing ice hockey or wrestling as his alter ego Eden von England!
Rowan Barker-Clarke
Garrett Morgan release party
On September 17th we hosted a journal release party at Garrett Morgan School of Engineering and Innovation. Students received copies of the Journal of Young Scientists and were announced as newly published authors! We were also able to recognize our Caplan Research Award winners who came from Ms. Herman’s 10th grade pre-AP biology class. This was the culmination of a year of hard work and it was amazing to see the students enjoy the moment. As usual, we had volunteers there to celebrate and the kids ate plenty of donuts and cookies which serve as brain fuel for their next scientific discoveries.
You can read the 2024 edition for free now! If you’d like to receive your own copy, please make a donation of your choosing and send us a message!
Garrett Morgan students posing as published authors!
Volunteer training
We were so fortunate to have Michelle Hughes present to our new and returning Teaching Fellows and Scientific Officers! Michelle is a Rise Up Board Member, Program Manager at the Cleveland Clinic, and community leader in education. She presented on strategies for creating strong and sticky relationships with our 9th and 10th grade students. For many of the students, Rise Up visits are their first interactions with research scientists and medical professionals. Michelle offered tips and insight into making these interactions productive and impactful. We are lucky to have support from an outstanding Board of Directors and talented volunteer base.
Volunteer training with help from Board Member Michelle Hughes
