Summer research participation is highly desirable by the donors. This award was established by David S. Grubbs in 1996 to support a summer of research training in BME. In 2001, his brother, Stephen, joined in donating to this scholarship. The Grubbs’ brothers received their undergraduate degrees in Chemical Engineering from Purdue. David received his Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering and has since become a cardiologist. Stephen is an oncologist. 

Both found that the summer of research training in biomedical engineering was the most valuable and instructive event in their time at Purdue. They want other undergraduate BME students to have the same experience.

How do you get involved?

In order to be eligible for the Summer Grubbs Scholarship Award, students must be willing to fully engage in a comprehensive research project conducted on-campus. The recipient will be expected to commit themselves to 400 hours of dedicated research activities, which equates to 40 hours per week over a period of ten weeks. The culmination of this research endeavor will involve presenting their findings at either the Summer research symposium or a national-level research symposium. The Participant(s) in this 10-week program will receive an $8000 scholarship disbursed through Purdue University's division of financial aid.

To be considered for this scholarship, students must be enrolled in at least one credit hour of BME 49800 throughout the entire duration of their research during the summer term.

As intended by the donors David and Stephen Grubbs, the undergraduate education team in BME will award these funds to those students who meet the following criteria:

Requirement Summary:

• You must be nominated by a faculty member you plan to work with.
• You must be on campus over the summer to do in-person research.
• You must complete 40 hours of research per week.
• You must present your research at a recognized conference (Purdue University or National level conference, such as the BMES).
• You must be a student enrolled in the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering.

Application Process

Each December we will initiate the process of seeking nominations from BME faculty members for this opportunity that will be awarded in the following year. To streamline this procedure, we kindly request faculty to provide nominations through a Qualtrics survey. As a means of supporting deserving students and investing in their academic journey, we kindly ask faculty members to contribute $1000 towards the recipients' summer tuition. This collaborative effort ensures that we can continue to provide valuable financial support to talented individuals within the BME program.