OARDC Announces 2007 Family, Brown Scholarships

WOOSTER, Ohio — Four college students from northeast Ohio have been named recipients of scholarships from the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC), the research arm of Ohio State University’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.

Parbir Grewal of Wooster and Athena Ling of Akron will each receive $1,000 OARDC Family Scholarship Awards. Katrina Casey of Shreve and Brad Warren of Wooster will each receive $1,000 James and Yvonne Brown Scholarship Awards.

The OARDC Family Scholarship Awards, funded by donations to Ohio State’s Campus Campaign, provide educational assistance to eligible spouses or dependent children of OARDC employees at any of the Center’s locations: Wooster, Columbus, Piketon and eight outlying agricultural research stations. The awards total $2,000 per year, with a maximum of $1,000 per award or $500 for half-time students.

The James and Yvonne Brown Scholarship program, created by a donation by former OARDC associate director and retired forestry professor James Brown and his wife, Yvonne, provides educational assistance to spouses or dependent children of OARDC non-faculty employees at Wooster or at any of the outlying stations. The awards total $2,000 per year, with disbursement determined by the selection committee.

Award money from both scholarships helps pay for books, tuition and related educational expenses.

Grewal is a chemical engineering student at Cornell University, where he serves as fuel cell team leader for Cornell’s Chemical Engineering Car Team; plans to pursue a doctorate in biomedical engineering; and has worked summers in Case Western Reserve University’s chemical engineering department and with OARDC’s Food Animal Health Research Program (FAHRP). Both his parents work for OARDC. His father, Parwinder, is as an associate professor in the Department of Entomology. His mother, Sukbir, is a research associate with FAHRP.

Ling is a pharmaceutical sciences/pharmacy student at Ohio State; serves as an orientation leader and resident advisor there; and eventually wants to work to synthesize new drugs to treat cancer, including alternative methods to treat breast cancer. Her father, Peter, is an associate professor in the Department of Food, Agricultural, and Biological Engineering.

Casey is a student in Ohio Northern University’s exercise physiology program, with an emphasis on pre-physical therapy. After graduation she plans to enter physical therapy school, pursue a master’s degree, then work as a practicing physical therapist. Her father, Mark, is a laboratory assistant in the Department of Horticulture and Crop Science. Her mother, Millie, is a returning retiree working part-time in the OARDC Director's Office.

Warren, also at Ohio State, is majoring in construction systems management, with a minor in business or agricultural business. After graduation he plans to work for a northeast Ohio construction company then later establish his own construction company. His father, Gary, is a press operator in the Section of Communications and Technology.

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