BP has made a $30,000 donation to the UCF College of Medicine’s Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences that will help undergraduate scientists during the 2011-12 school year. This donation is on behalf of Florida Oil Holdings, LLC (FOH). FOH is the independent owner and operator of over 30 BP/ampm locations in the greater Orlando area.
Thirty $1,000 scholarships will be awarded to students based on need and academic achievement. Grants will be awarded to incoming freshmen – to assure a strong recruiting effort of talented high school students interest in the biomedical sciences – followed by second- and third-year students.
Dr. Deborah German, dean of the College of Medicine and UCF vice president for medical affairs, thanked the company for its generosity. “These scholarships will afford students the opportunity to focus intensely on their chosen field of study and alleviate some of their worries about affording their education,” she said. “This donation will help us attract and keep the best and brightest young scientists.”
The Burnett school currently enrolls over 2,500 undergraduate students, making it the second largest major at UCF. The school focuses its research in four key areas – cancer and cardiovascular, neurodegenerative and infectious diseases and last year received more than $11 million in research funding.