TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Karen Torres of Arab and Grace Shelby of Huntsville conducted research at The University of Alabama as members of the 2005 McNair Scholars class.

Torres, a recent UA graduate, conducted her research with UA faculty mentors Dr. Stan Jones and Dr. Mark Barkey in the department of aerospace engineering. Along with her research being featured as a report on “An Analysis to Optimize the Geometry of a Taylor Impact Cylinder” in the 2005 edition of the UA McNair Journal, she has given papers at the Southeastern Regional Student Conference of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 2003 and 2004. Torres was recently named Student Engineer of the Year by the Engineering Council of Birmingham and the Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher in the department of aerospace engineering and mechanics.

Shelby, who will be attending Vanderbilt University in the fall, conducted her research with UA faculty mentor Dr. Beverly Thorn in the department of psychology during the summer of 2004. Along with presenting her research at the 38th annual conference of the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy in New Orleans Shelby has co-authored a research report for the UA McNair Journal on “Race and Sex Differences in Pain Responsivity and Catastrophizing.” Shelby was honored at UA as a Dean’s Merit Award recipient and the Morris L. Mayer Student Award recipient for 2005.

The McNair Scholars Program is named after Dr. Ronald E. McNair, a first-generation college student who earned a doctorate in physics at MIT. Later, as an astronaut, he became the second African-American in space. He was among those who died in the 1986 Challenger accident. Honoring his legacy, McNair Scholars is a prestigious scholarship and research program that helps prepare accomplished undergraduates for graduate study. A U.S. Department of Education TRIO program, McNair Scholars targets first-generation college students and those from other groups underrepresented in doctoral programs.