Clark University - Clarknews spring 2004
Science student earns elite scholarship from Department of Homeland Security
By Jane Salerno
Immediately after learning of the terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001—before the existence of a U.S. Department of Homeland Security—Kimberly LeBlanc ’05 sat in Daniels Theater with fellow Clarkies, watching the awful events unfold on television. LeBlanc says she could never have imagined then that she’d be among an elite group of young scholars working to help her government thwart terrorists.
LeBlanc is one of two Massachusetts undergraduates to receive a scholarship through the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) new Scholars and Fellows Program. The biochemistry major will receive full tuition at Clark and a stipend of $1,000 a month for nine months. The competitive scholarship includes a summer internship. LeBlanc’s internship is at Sandia National Laboratories in California, where she will work on a project titled “Pathogens or Microarrays.”After the unusually cold winter in New England, LeBlanc says, “California is looking pretty good.”
According to the DHS, this scholarship program was initiated in September 2003 in order to “support the development and mentoring of the next generation of scientists as they study ways to prevent terrorist attacks within the United States, reduce America’s vulnerability to terrorism, and minimize the damage and recovery efforts from attacks that occur.” Only 101 graduate and undergraduate students, all U.S. citizens, were chosen.
LeBlanc expects to conduct research on infectious disease, perhaps including anthrax or smallpox. “It’s like anything else you work with in your lab—you take precautions,” she responds to the anticipated question about her personal safety. The internship will take place this summer, lasting 10 weeks at 40 hours per week. If LeBlanc maintains her already high academic performance, she will be eligible for the same scholarship next year.
Stopping terrorism
In November, the scholarship recipients attended orientation in Washington, D.C., where they met DHS director Tom Ridge, who spoke and answered questions. LeBlanc recalls the theme of his talk: “It’s a double-edged sword; if we succeed and there are no terror attacks, then people will say ‘what do we need a Department of Homeland Security for?’”
The scholarship stipulates that recipients “seriously consider” an offer for employment, if one is made after graduation, LeBlanc says. The DHS is “hoping that they spark an interest and we’ll want to work for the government.”
Leblanc, who is from Webster, Mass., has twin brothers who are in high school. She will be the first of her family to earn a college degree. She aims to eventually earn a medical degree and a Ph.D., wanting to work with patients and keep a hand in laboratory research and development, which she enjoys. Since her sophomore year, LeBlanc has worked a paid internship at the University of Massachusetts Medical School labs, researching how Lyme disease adheres to cells.
A deserving student
LeBlanc’s interest in science began in high school while taking courses in anatomy and biology. At Clark, her favorite course is genetics. “I love genetics, and it really got me interested in research as well.”
Students like LeBlanc are “such an addition to the Clark campus,” says Thomas Leonard, chair of the Biology Department. “This fellowship could not have been given to a better student. Kim is very bright, works very hard, applies herself, and has such outstanding abilities that she’s able to spend a lot of time doing research and extracurricular activities, and still excel in her classes.
“I wish I could clone her.”
Beyond science
“I’m glad I’m coming to the DHS program from Clark. Now, I have such a broadened view on people of different cultures. I like to think I don’t make assumptions,” LeBlanc says. Her roommate, Jasmina Patel ’05, of Methuen, Mass., is a native of India. “She has taught me so much that I couldn’t have learned in the classroom.”
LeBlanc teaches dance at her alma mater, Bartlett Junior-Senior High School and on Wednesdays has been teaching choreography to the Junior High showchoir. Until recently she also volunteered at the emergency room at UMass Memorial, helping to conduct a survey study of Internet use as it relates to drug use.
How does she find time to do so much and do so well? She shrugs and smiles. “I don’t sleep.”
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