STEM launches Y(SU)2-RP

STEM launches Y(SU)2-RP

YSU students will have a new opportunity to immerse themselves in research thanks to the new YSU Summer Undergraduate Research Program in the College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Y(SU)2-RP was scheduled to launch this summer but, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the start of the program has been delayed until summer 2021.

STEM Dean Wim Steelant

“Y(SU)2-RP provides undergraduate students an opportunity to participate in an immersive, faculty-led research experience,” STEM Dean Wim Steelant said.

Participating students receive a $2,400 stipend to work with a professor in the lab for eight weeks over the summer and are required to give an oral or poster presentation during a competitive Y(SU)2-RP symposium at the beginning of the Fall semester. Faculty members leading the research receive a $3,000 stipend for the summer and additional support to purchase necessary lab supplies.

Y(SU)2-RP is the result of a $1.5 million endowment from Eleanor Watanakunakorn to YSU’s “We See Tomorrow” campaign. “All of us at YSU thank Mrs. Watanakunakorn for her generosity and continued support of the university and our students,” President Jim Tressel said.

Mrs. Watanakunakorn is a longstanding philanthropic leader in the Mahoning Valley and beyond. In 2014, she was recognized as “Outstanding Philanthropist” by the Association of Fundraising Professionals Mahoning-Shenango Chapter National Philanthropy Day Awards. That same year, she received an honorary degree from Northeast Ohio Medical University in Rootstown, the institution where her late husband, Dr. Chatrchai Watanakunakorn, taught. Dr. Watanakunakorn was world-renowned and was the first infectious disease specialist in Youngstown, working for nearly 22 years at St. Elizabeth Health Center (now Mercy Health).

Mrs. Watanakunakorn honored her husband’s legacy in 2008 by establishing the Dr. Chatrchai and Eleanor Watanakunakorn Scholarship at the YSU Foundation. The one-year renewable scholarship is awarded to a full-time, second-year student in the YSU BaccMed program who is accepted in the NEOMED program.

Steelant launched an initiative similar to Y(SU)2-RP when he was dean of Science at St. Thomas University in Miami, Fla., prior to coming to YSU. “This ultimately led to the participation of over 100 undergraduate students with 30 faculty members engaged in research during the summer,” he said. “As a result, the student retention rate increased to 96 percent and resulted in numerous job placements and successful continued education.”