- University News Archive - ĚÇĐÄVlog´«Ă˝ Little Rock /news-archive/tag/girls-of-promise/ ĚÇĐÄVlog´«Ă˝ Little Rock Wed, 26 May 2021 13:01:24 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 Graduate Avery McLean is headed to law school with an eye on environmental law and public policy /news-archive/2021/05/26/avery-mclean-commencement/ Wed, 26 May 2021 13:01:24 +0000 /news/?p=79125 ... Graduate Avery McLean is headed to law school with an eye on environmental law and public policy]]> On Dr. Simon Hawkins’ desk in the Donaghey Scholars Honors Program office, there hangs an unusual item – the picture of a one-year old bull that lives in Manitoba, Canada.Ěý The picture as well as the bull that shares his name is a source of pride for Hawkins. A student, Avery McLean, asked her parents to name one of the calves from the family’s farm after her mentor. “Hawkins was one of our family’s 2020 calves,” said McLean, a Donaghey Scholar from Pilot Mound, Canada. “Every year we name the calves off a certain letter of the alphabet. It was H in 2020, so I asked my parents if we could name the bull after Dr. Hawkins. That bull lives on a commercial ranch in Manitoba, and Dr. Hawkins loves to show off a picture of his bull.” McLean is graduating this month from ĚÇĐÄVlog´«Ă˝ Little Rock with a bachelor’s degree in biology, a minor in political science, and plans to make the world a better place through environmental law. McLean grew up on her family’s cattle farm in rural Canada. Her hometown of Pilot Mound has about 500 residents and lies five miles north of the North Dakota border. She knew that she would have to leave home to receive the education she craved. At 15, McLean enrolled at the Institut Collegial Vincent Massey Collegiate in Winnipeg, Canada. From there, she was recruited as a swimmer to ĚÇĐÄVlog´«Ă˝ Little Rock. “I think everything happens for a reason. I worked with a swimming recruiter in high school, and the assistant coach at the time reached out to me and thought I would be a great fit for the program at ĚÇĐÄVlog´«Ă˝ Little Rock,” McLean said. “When I was on campus, they told me about the Donaghey Scholars Program. I was on the honor track in high school, and it would be a great opportunity.” Since her family has friends in the cattle business in Arkansas, McLean’s parents were more comfortable with her attending college 20 hours away from home. “It’s also been of help to my family because I have been able to attend Simmental breeders conferences,” she said. “Simmentals are beef and dairy cows that have origins in Switzerland, Austria and Germany. We talk about what is going on genetically. I think genetics is a very cool thing, especially in bovine creatures. My parents are in pursuit to breed the perfect polled (no horns) Simmental. My mom is a vet, so she has all of these charts that show what pairings will lead to these characteristics throughout the generations.” As a student-athlete on the swimming and diving team, McLean served as one of the ĚÇĐÄVlog´«Ă˝ Little Rock representatives on the Sun Belt Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. She also shares her passion for swimming with the children in her hometown during summertime. “At home, I have served as the head coach of the summer swim team,” she said. “It’s a small community. There are 500 people max. Any time I would come home, I would have 20 kids join my summer program. It’s crazy to have that many kids in the area want to spend an hour a day swimming. I loved sharing that with these kids.” After graduation, McLean is headed to Penn State University to study environmental law with a generous scholarship that covers 90 percent of her tuition and fees. “The plan is to study environmental law, which will enhance my biology degree,” McLean said. “There is the potential to do a master’s degree in agricultural policy or a Ph.D. in addition to the law degree. I will decide if I want to pursue one of those degrees after my first year of law school.”
Graduate Photo of Avery McLean by DJ Webb from Barefoot Mama Studios.

Graduate Photo of Avery McLean by DJ Webb from Barefoot Mama Studios.

Among her many pursuits, McLean has also served as a team leader and committee chair for Girls of Promise for three years. “Girls of Promise is a great initiative,” McLean said. “I signed up as a team leader and I fell in love with the conference. All of the girls I led are getting ready to graduate from high school. Those girls become your children during the conference. After the conference, I was asked to join the committee. I was the youngest team leader, and now I push for all Little Rock students to be team leaders. I like to see people who are not much older than those students come in there and give them advice on what classes to take and the people who can help you.” As her parents’ only child, McLean knows that she will eventually move back home to help run the family farm. While visiting Texas, McLean met a Texas A&M educated world-renowned Simmental advocate who manages a cattle farm owned by a successful lawyer. She found that fortuitous visit as proof that she can have the life and career she’s always dreamed of. “I realized I could still have a career and run the family farm,” she said. “I can have someone on the ground so I can still pursue my dreams in policy making, politics, and law. The agricultural community is very important to me. Who am I to say to make these changes when I’ve left my community and abandoned it?” McLean became interested in politics during middle school. During the Canadian national election, McLean recalls that one of her teachers became upset. She was certain that taxes would be raised because the newly elected politicians didn’t understand the agricultural industry. “My teacher asked me if I was going to run for prime minister,” McLean said. “I started to think about how I can get a chance to be a part of the national conversation. I figured that lawyers, accountants, and doctors are the ones that people typically vote for. I don’t want to be a general lawyer because the environment is the next step that the world needs to concentrate on, and agriculture is a big part of the environment. People are so often uneducated about the issues we want to make policies on. I want to be in the conversations when these policies are made.”]]> Chatterjee named 2021 Whitbeck Memorial Award winner /news-archive/2021/05/13/chatterjee-2021-whitbeck-memorial-award-winner/ Thu, 13 May 2021 15:00:34 +0000 /news/?p=79023 ... Chatterjee named 2021 Whitbeck Memorial Award winner]]> The impressive achievements of future doctor Stuti Chatterjee have earned her the honor of the 2021 Edward L. Whitbeck Memorial Award at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.Ěý Frank L. and Beverly Whitbeck established the award in memory of their son, Edward Lynn Whitbeck, who was a senior at Little Rock University, the predecessor of ĚÇĐÄVlog´«Ă˝ Little Rock, at the time of his death in 1965. Each scholar receives a personalized plaque and a monetary award. “The Whitbeck Award is given to the outstanding graduating senior,” said Dr. Simon Hawkins, director of the Donaghey Scholars Honors Program. “Stuti is outstanding in so many ways, but more than that, she is inspirational. She represents the best of ĚÇĐÄVlog´«Ă˝ Little Rock. Stuti’s education has changed her. It has given her so much, and she has given so much back to the university and the larger community.” Chatterjee, a Donaghey Scholar from Bryant, earned the Whitbeck Award while double majoring in chemistry and biology at ĚÇĐÄVlog´«Ă˝ Little Rock. After graduation, Chatterjee will be taking a gap year to work and to study for the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) before going to medical school in the fall 2022 semester. “I think that medicine is one of those fields where you never stop learning,” she said. “It’s also one of the most giving fields. Showing empathy and compassion is something you don’t get to do at all jobs.” While at ĚÇĐÄVlog´«Ă˝ Little Rock, Chatterjee worked with Dr. Noureen Siraj, assistant professor of chemistry, to study the use of nanodrugs for effective cancer cell therapies. “I created a more non-invasive approach to treat cancer cells,” Chatterjee said. “Usually nanoparticles that are used to treat cancer are made out of gold. It works, but it’s very expensive. We are looking for organic elements that can be exchanged for gold in nanoparticles.” Chatterjee has received two SURF (Student Undergraduate Research Fellowship) grants and three Signature Experience Awards from ĚÇĐÄVlog´«Ă˝ Little Rock to fund her research. Her research project, “Tunable sized combination nanodrugs based on ionic materials,” has earned Chatterjee a second place award at the Student Research and Creative Works Expo at ĚÇĐÄVlog´«Ă˝ Little Rock as well as an honorable mention for the INBRE (Idea Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence) Conference this year. She was also named the 2020 Outstanding Undergraduate Research Student for the Department of Chemistry. Even though she has received many accolades for her research on how to treat cancer using nanotechnology, Chatterjee is planning to specialize in pediatrics. A native of India, Chatterjee moved to Arkansas with her family when she was just 10 years old. Her father had received a job offer in Arkansas, and the move also provided the opportunity for better medical treatment for her brother, Sanidhya. “My brother had a brain hemorrhage when he was a child,” she said. “My parents thought he would have a better chance for treatment in the U.S. That is another thing that made me want to go into medicine. It was a doctor’s mistake that caused his hemorrhage, but it was also a doctor that fixed it. I saw firsthand the damage it can cause, but I also saw how that medical knowledge can be used to help someone.” Chatterjee also thanked her parents, Monish and Atima Chatterjee, for being a huge source of support as she finished her bachelor’s degrees.Ěý “I want to include my parents as role models who helped me succeed in college,” she said. “They have supported me so much by calling me and bringing in food. They have made my life easier by helping me do what I need to do.” In the healthcare field, Chatterjee also works with Dr. Meghan Wilson, a rehabilitation medicine physician at ĚÇĐÄVlog´«Ă˝MS who has tetraplegia from a spinal cord injury. Chatterjee assists Dr. Wilson with daily activities as well as clinical work by writing notes, performing patient exams, and conducting rounds on patients. “Stuti is able to empathize and show compassion when needed but is also focused and gets things done in an efficient manner,” Wilson said. “She asks questions about different diagnoses and is genuinely interested in my approach throughout the day. Her compassion and curiosity are what make her stand out from her fellow coworkers. Whether our team has 12 or 5 patients, Stuti is able to work with the same enthusiasm. She has also been kind and supportive when I have gone through difficult times, and I believe she has a genuine passion for helping others.” A firm believer in empowering women in STEM, Chatterjee volunteered with Girls of Promise while at ĚÇĐÄVlog´«Ă˝ Little Rock, though she has been an advocate for much longer. “When I was in high school, there were no women in my robotics program,” she said. “I started my own all-girls robotics team. It seemed like a boys club, and I didn’t want that to deter the girls from participating. We ended up going to the world competition.” During her time at ĚÇĐÄVlog´«Ă˝ Little Rock, Chatterjee has also served on the Student Government Association and learned Python to code a camera to monitor the Arkansas River for a professor’s research project. In healthcare, she worked as a research associate at ĚÇĐÄVlog´«Ă˝MS. Her supervisor, Dr. Michael Wilson, hired her to copy edit his book, “Behavioral Emergencies for the Healthcare Provider.”Ěý “Looking back at my achievements, I have been driven not only by my passion for science but by using that passion to give back to the community,” Chatterjee said. “Through my involvement within various organizations and performing well in academics, I hope to inspire and pave the way for the future classes of ĚÇĐÄVlog´«Ă˝ Little Rock.”]]> ĚÇĐÄVlog´«Ă˝ Little Rock to host Women in Cybersecurity Virtual Event /news-archive/2020/10/05/women-in-cybersecurity/ Mon, 05 Oct 2020 16:36:08 +0000 /news/?p=77631 ... ĚÇĐÄVlog´«Ă˝ Little Rock to host Women in Cybersecurity Virtual Event]]> The event will give girls a chance to learn what it’s like to choose a career in cybersecurity. The event, recommended for girls in sixth grade and older, will feature a panel of female mentors working in cybersecurity as well as a mobile forensics workout via ĚÇĐÄVlog´«Ă˝ Little Rock’s Cyber Gym. The panelists include Becky Passmore, senior digital forensic examiner and computer forensics instructor with the federal government; Valerie Moring, healthcare and cybersecurity lead at Edafio Technology Partners; Lora McIntosh, chief information security officer at Simmons Bank; and Beth-Anne Bygum, chief security and compliance officer at Acxiom. Representatives from Arvest Bank, Simmons Bank, Forge Institute, Virtual Arkansas, the Women’s Foundation, and the Museum of Discovery will facilitate the Cyber Gym workout. “With the ongoing growing need for cybersecurity professionals,” said Sandra Leiterman, managing director of ĚÇĐÄVlog´«Ă˝ Little Rock’s Cyber Gym. “It’s important to encourage girls to get interested in it and any kind of science at an early age. Traditionally, women are underrepresented in the computer sciences. The panelists will talk about their road to cybersecurity, what they do in their careers, and their schooling and training. During the second hour of the event, we will lead them through a real-life mobile forensics workout. We really want to show these girls how exciting a career in cybersecurity can be.”]]>