Each April, students and professors apply for the Bruce and Cynthia Maryanoff Freshman Summer Research Fellowship, offered by the chemistry department. The Fellowship pairs five undergrads and five professors based on their mutual research interests and offers the students financial support for the summer. Students then spend 10 weeks in Disque Hall, gaining valuable research experience and working with professors and graduate students, while dedicating themselves to a research topic to be presented at the end of the summer.

Dr. Lynn Penn, the head of the chemistry department, thinks the Maryanoff Fellowships are great for students and professors, and wishes it were available to more than just five students each summer. The Fellowship, she feels, offers students a look at true research.

"Over the summer, students will experience real research," Penn said. "That means that they'll learn techniques, they'll learn a new subject area. Things might not necessarily work out, because this is really research."

This year's Maryanoff Fellows and their mentors are as follows:

• Anand Kumar (Biology) is working with Professor Frank Ji in Materials Chemistry.
• Omid Amidi (Biology) is working with Professor Reinhard Schweitzer-Stenner in Biophysical Chemistry.
• Ivona Sasimovich (Chemistry) is working with Professor Tony Addison in Inorganic Chemistry.
• Wentian Su (Math) is working with Professor Alan Bandy in Atmospheric Chemistry.
• Yingying Zhu (Math) is working with Professor Sally Solomon in Nanorod Chemistry.

Drs. Cynthia and Bruce Maryanoff established the Fellowships to help inspire future generations of research scientists. Both are Drexel alumni who spent their undergraduate years studying organic chemistry and are generous benefactors of the department. Both earned advanced degrees: Bruce earned his PhD in Chemistry at Drexel, while Cynthia earned hers at Princeton.

In addition to the Maryanoff Summer Research Fellowships, the Maryanoffs have also endowed the Bruce and Cynthia Maryanoff Endowed Chemistry Prize, given annually at the College of Arts and Sciences Honors Day. Cynthia is currently a Distinguished Research Fellow at Cordis Corporation, a Johnson & Johnson company, and Bruce is currently a Distinguished Research Fellow and Team Leader at Johnson & Johnson. Bruce invented Topiramate (TOPAMAX), an anti-epileptic drug, now also widely used to treat migraines. Combined, the Maryanoffs have written more than 340 scientific publications and hold more than 150 patents. Both are members of the Dean's Advisory Board for the College of Arts and Sciences.