For Perez, a Hispanic student majoring in science and history, that summer was such an exceptional research opportunity that it turned him into a fixture in Kunkel's lab for the rest of his undergraduate years. It also formed the basis of a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, on which he was second author, and of his senior thesis.

Perez continued working in Kunkel's lab throughout the academic year after his EXROP experience, and during the following summer he mentored a new EXROP student there. By then, Perez had turned his attention to bone marrow cells, working to see if he could cajole them into engrafting into and repairing damaged muscle cells.

Perez, who started Harvard Medical School this fall, has his eye on a career in medical research. He says he discovered the role that teaching plays in research by mentoring as well as being mentored, and he has already learned what every scientist knows—that "science isn't a 9 to 5 job. You're thinking about it all the time."

Alexander Red Eagle, a Native American from California, spent his EXROP summer studying protein folding in the lab of HHMI investigator Arthur L. Horwich at Yale University School of Medicine. He focused on a protein that, when misfolded, can lead to con gestive heart failure or neurodegenerative disorders. "My HHMI experience was a real confidence booster," Red Eagle recalls. "I learned to tackle big ideas by breaking projects down into one question at a time."

Red Eagle's exceptional research opportunity didn't end with EXROP. He was one of the first EXROP alumni to receive a Gilliam Fellowship for Advanced Study from HHMI.

Starting this fall, the Institute will award up to five Gilliam Fellowships annually to outstanding EXROP students who want to pursue Ph.D.s in the biological sciences. The fellowships, which pay for up to 5 years of graduate school, are named for the late James H. Gilliam, Jr., a charter member of HHMI's Board of Trustees. They honor his commitment to fostering diversity in the scientific community.

Red Eagle is now completing the medical school part of an M.D.-Ph.D. program in genetics at Stanford University. He deferred his Gilliam Fellowship until he starts the Ph.D. portion of his studies in 2006.

		James Gilliam, Sr. (left) and Linda J. Gilliam share a light moment with Gilliam Fellow Alexander Red Eagle. This past May, HHMI announced the recipients of its first Gilliam Fellowships, named in honor of the late James H. Gilliam, Jr., a charter Trustee of HHMI who spent a lifetime fostering diversity and opportunity in education and science. The fellowships provide support for Ph.D. studies in the life sciences to disadvantaged students, including underrepresented minorities, who participated in HHMI's Exceptional Research Opportunities (EXROP) undergraduate summer research program. These six students received the first Gilliam Fellowships: More Photo: Paul Fetters

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