Eddie currently works as a data scientist specializing in people analytics for Discover Financial Services. As a graduate student, he used the grant to attend conferences where he received the opportunity to share his own work and connect with other professionals. He says, “The grant helped me at a pivotal time, early in my career. Having the necessary financial support to attend those conferences made for some wonderful experiences, and frankly, it made my peers that did not go to Lee a little jealous of my cool alma mater.”

Anna used her award to assist with the startup costs to get her company, SkyNano, up and running. “To the donors who made this grant possible, I would like to thank you immensely. It allowed me to pursue this dream of mine without being bottlenecked by the cost, and felt really sweet to have the support coming from Lee University, a place I have held so dear in my heart since first stepping onto campus.” Anna is still running SkyNano today. Their aim is to produce carbon-based materials from carbon dioxide to provide a profitable solution towards solving global climate change. SkyNano is now funded by the US National Science Foundation and the US Department of Energy.

While at Lee, Deborah participated in a 2014 research summer fellowship with the American Physiological Society at Emory University under the mentorship of Dr. Titilayo Ilori. After graduation, Deborah joined the laboratory of Dr. Stella Goulopoulou at the University of North Texas Health Science Center (HSC) at Fort Worth, TX as a research assistant. In 2016, Deborah was awarded the Lee University Young Alumni Professional Development Grant which partially funded her trip to the Mayo Clinic, where her research was presented at the 12th International Mechanisms of Vasodilatation Symposium. Deborah is currently working on completing her dissertation at the HSC in Dr. Goulopoulou’s lab while she prepares for a career in Clinical Research.