Local Resident Awarded Research Funds at Virginia Tech

BLACKSBURG, Va., April 8, 2002 -- Megan K. Healy, a senior at Virginia Tech in animal and poultry sciences, has been awarded research funding and a scholarship to support in-depth study of animal nutrition.

Selected students within various departments of Virginia Tech's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences are given the opportunity to perform research concerning animal nutrition through a program sponsored by the John Lee Pratt Foundation.

Healy, daughter of Christopher and Diane Healy of Richmond, was selected as a recipient of this award based on a proposal she submitted in the spring of her junior year. The John Lee Pratt Animal Nutrition Senior Research Scholarship Program provides a $2,000 scholarship to the student and $1,000 in operating funds allocated to the department to offset the costs of the research project. An average of eight students receive the award annually.

"This offers an opportunity to gain experience for graduate school and a chance to do more in-depth work," Healy said. Her research involves studying the effects of certain hormones and peptides on food and water intake in chickens. This addresses issues that arise with the higher demand and need for increased production in the poultry field.

"The purpose of this program is to encourage highly qualified students to pursue graduate study in animal nutrition through a rewarding senior research project under the guidance of a faculty adviser," said John White, associate dean and director of academic programs. The Pratt Foundation was established to support animal nutrition research and teaching, and other programs.

John Lee Pratt, who died in 1975 at the age of 96, was a Virginia native who became a vice president and eventually a member of the board of directors of General Motors. He left $12 million to Virginia Tech, of which $5.5 million was earmarked to promote the study of animal nutrition. This endowment is used to provide scholarships to undergraduate and graduate students, to support faculty salaries, and to underwrite research in animal nutrition.

Research proposals must be submitted at the end of the spring semester of the applicant's junior year. A faculty committee, which makes final decisions of those to receive the scholarship, evaluates these proposals.