Posted on 10/10/2008
Heidi Kluess, an assistant professor of kinesiology at the University of Arkansas, is the university's nominee for the Pew Scholars Program in the Biomedical Sciences.
The program is designed to support young investigators of outstanding promise in the basic and clinical sciences relevant to the advancement of human health. Candidates must hold the rank of assistant professor on Nov. 1, 2008, and must not have held this appointment for more than three years as of July 1, 2009.
The highly competitive national award carries a grant of $70,000 per year for four years. The funding is provided by the Pew Charitable Trusts.
According to the Web site of the Pew Scholars Program, the award is intended to provide assured support, during their earlier years, for junior members of the faculty as they establish their laboratories. It is hoped that the assurance provided through the program will encourage successful applicants to be more venturesome in their research and future applications for support than would otherwise be likely.
One nomination was invited from each of 149 institutions selected on the basis of the scope of their work in biomedical research.
Kluess, who earned her doctoral degree from Louisiana State University, joined the faculty of the College of Education and Health Professions in 2007. She recently received a grant from the National Institute on Aging to study how the sympathetic nervous system controls blood flow and blood pressure in women as they age. The National Institute on Aging is a part of the National Institutes of Health.
According to Dennis Brewer, associate vice provost for research, "Competitiveness for the Pew Scholars Program requires a productive postdoctoral experience, which Dr. Kluess had at the Medical College of Wisconsin. She came to the University of Arkansas with the credentials to secure a grant from the NIH early in her tenure-track career."
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