UNA student completes advocacy training

RUSSELLVILLE – A Russellville student who is a sophomore at the University of North Alabama recently completed a five-month advocacy training program offered by the Council on Undergraduate Research.

Grissom, a sophomore at UNA, is a graduate of Russellville High School majoring in pre-health biology.

Grissom and fellow UNA student Lydia Uptain, along with UNA’s Dr. Cynthia Stenger, participated in the program.

The three recently finished the program with a trip to Washington, D.C.

“In the five-month training, we learned how to advocate for our research at local, regional and national levels,” explained Stenger. “We really felt like UNA undergraduate bioinformatics research made an impression at all three congressional offices.”

UNA describes bioinformatics research as “genetics research at the heart of personalized medicine,” noting research conducted by UNA students contributes to the field through presentations at scholarly venues and through journal publications.

“Being able to advocate for undergraduate bioinformatics research and UNA on Capitol Hill was such a rewarding experience,” Grissom said. “I am thankful to have had the opportunity to go to D.C. and see the interworkings of our government at the national level.”

Grissom said the experience helped her understand how to better communicate scientific information to the people around her.

“I have also learned the importance of advocating for something that is important to me and my peers,” she said.

By María Camp