Orangeburg, SC…Some of the nation’s top universities have selected students from Claflin University for prestigious undergraduate research summer internships.

“These are very important internship opportunities for twelve very talented Claflin students,” noted Dr. Roosevelt Ratliff, Professor and Assistant Vice President for Leadership Development who announced the selection. “Students chosen to participate in the Leadership Alliance Consortium Internships will gain valuable theoretical knowledge and practical training in academic research and scientific experimentation.”

The twelve students are Ashley Gathers from Orangeburg, SC who will undertake research at the University of Pennsylvania; Robert Bryant of Summerville, SC has been selected by Johns Hopkins University; Cindi Lewis of Chaguanas, Trinidad and Shonnette Grant of Hyattsville, MD are both going to the University of California, in Riverside and Davis respectively. Two other students, Octavia Jowers of Cheraw, SC and Jeannice Louine of Jacksonville, FL were selected by Vanderbilt University. Antoine Marshall of Raleigh, NC and Maureen Watson of Greenville, SC will undertake research at the University of South Carolina. Jelissa Conway, from Jefferson, SC, who along with Lakisha Whittaker of Alcolu, SC, will be at Howard University and Julien Nunes will be at Furman University. Lakisha Lockhart, of Columbus, GA, has been selected by the Institute for Recruitment of Teachers located in Andover, Massachusetts.

All twelve students will have assigned faculty and graduate assistant mentors and at the end of their internships will present their research at the Leadership Alliance’s annual Summer Symposium. The students will be required to present a written report and/or abstract at the end of their summer research activity and complete a program evaluation.