On April 14 University Professor Dr. Cato T. Laurencin awarded three outstanding students the ScHOLA2RS House/ Cato T. Laurencin, M.D., Ph.D. Award. The UConn Foundation created the award, which honors top academically achieving Black male seniors at the University of Connecticut. The award is in its third year and has served as a source of inspiration for the Black community at UConn. The recipients this year were, Mason Holland, Shihab Khalfalla, and Khalil Simon.
“These students are truly remarkable scholars,” said Laurencin at the award ceremony. “But perhaps more importantly, the are remarkable people. Their brilliance is only matched by their determination.”
Each student was awarded by Laurencin personally with a congratulatory letter for their academic endeavors, and a personalized plaque. In addition, a monetary honorarium was provided to each student through Laurencin’s Family Foundation.
Throughout his distinguished career, Laurencin has devoted his life to pioneering research and clinical care. Equally important is his work in mentoring young people in engineering, science, medicine and the humanities. At UConn he directs 10 mentoring/educational programs including the UConn Young Innovative Investigators Program, the UConn Pre-K Scholars Program, the Presidential M1 Mentorship Award Program, the Master’s Program in Regenerative Engineering, and the Master’s Program in Clinical and Translational Research. He is the Principal Investigator of UConn’s NIH T32 Pre-Doctoral Program in Regenerative Engineering, an NIH Diversity Award Pre-Doctoral Training Grant, an NIH Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity (BUILD) Grant Award, a National Science Foundation Research, Experience and Mentoring Grant, and a new grant award from the Department of Education focused on K-12 mentoring.
Nationally, Laurencin is the first to receive the three principal national awards for mentoring: the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences (AAAS) Mentor Award, the Beckman Award for Mentoring, and the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Math and Engineering Mentoring bestowed in ceremonies at the White House.
Laurencin also serves as the Albert and Wilda Van Dusen Distinguished Endowed Professor and the CEO of The Cato T. Laurencin Institute for Regenerative Engineering at UConn.
