{"id":3874,"date":"2015-01-13T11:09:41","date_gmt":"2015-01-13T16:09:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/forensics\/?p=3874"},"modified":"2016-04-08T14:13:33","modified_gmt":"2016-04-08T18:13:33","slug":"marshall-ph-d-student-receives-chancellors-scholarship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/forensics\/uncategorized\/marshall-ph-d-student-receives-chancellors-scholarship","title":{"rendered":"Marshall Ph.D Student Receives Chancellor’s Scholarship"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tenacious.\u00a0 Passionate. Driven.\u00a0 These are the words that Sean Piwarski uses to describe himself.<\/p>\n

Piwarski is this year\u2019s recipient of the Chancellor\u2019s Scholarship, given to a student in Marshall University\u2019s Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine Biomedical Sciences Ph.D. Program. The Chancellor\u2019s Scholar Program is intended to recruit, educate and graduate underrepresented minority students in doctoral programs.\u00a0 It offers a substantial tuition benefit and stipend as well as professional research and career development opportunities and a strong support network.\u00a0 Further, it aims to provide support as the student transitions from his or her education into university faculty or administration roles.<\/p>\n

Piwarski grew up in a bilingual, Hispanic household in California. He said that when he was a youngster, his mother provided \u201ca lot of love\u201d that allowed him to take risks and explore boundaries, while ensuring that he remained polite and stayed on the right path.\u00a0 He was recruited to California Lutheran University on a football scholarship, where he double-majored in biology and chemistry.<\/p>\n

One of his biggest influences was Dr. John Tannaci, who taught organic chemistry at California Lutheran, and to Piwarski\u2019s surprise, made it fun and relatable.\u00a0 Piwarski said that was not something that he often found in his science courses, so one of his goals is to bring that level of passion and interest to a new generation.<\/p>\n

With his strong science background, Piwarski came to Marshall University to obtain his master\u2019s degree in forensic science, focusing on toxicology and drug chemistry.\u00a0 In deciding how to apply the knowledge and skills gained through that program, he realized that a Ph.D. was the logical next step, particularly with the interdisciplinary, team-based science program offered at Marshall.<\/p>\n

\"Piwarski,<\/a>Currently in his third year of a program that typically takes 5 to 6 years to complete, Piwarski is working with Dr. Travis Salisbury in the Toxicology and Environmental Health Sciences cluster.\u00a0 His research focuses on determining how certain chemical mechanisms in specific toxins may work to stop cancer metastasis.\u00a0 He said it is a subject close to his heart, since several of his family members have lost battles with cancer.<\/p>\n

Piwarski said that being the first Hispanic student to receive the Chancellor\u2019s Scholarship is \u201cvery humbling,\u201d and gives him the opportunity to pursue his passions.\u00a0 He also said he believes that it gives validation to exploring his scientific ideas. When he was younger, he noticed that certain classes were considered to be only for the \u201csmart people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cScience isn\u2019t so much about being the smartest person in the room; it\u2019s about tenacity,\u201d Piwarski said.\u00a0 \u201cTry out creative ideas and don\u2019t be afraid to put yourself out there to further what is possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once he completes the Biomedical Sciences Ph.D. program, Piwarski says he will pursue an academic position where he can put the \u201cswagger in science\u201d and stimulate the same passion and drive for excellence in others.<\/p>\n

To view the article, click here. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tenacious.\u00a0 Passionate. Driven.\u00a0 These are the words that Sean Piwarski uses to describe himself. Piwarski is this year\u2019s recipient of the Chancellor\u2019s Scholarship, given to a student in Marshall University\u2019s Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine Biomedical Sciences Ph.D. Program. The Chancellor\u2019s Scholar Program is intended to recruit, educate and graduate underrepresented minority students in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"fimg_url":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/forensics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/forensics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/forensics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/forensics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/120"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/forensics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/forensics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3874\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/forensics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/forensics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/forensics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}