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National Guard Soldier Awarded First USM John S. Ricci Fellowship

November 8, 2007

Portland resident Sri Dhyana, a University of Southern Maine physics major with a minor in biochemistry, was named the first recipient of USM’s John S. Ricci Fellowship this summer. Established in 2006 by USM alumnus and Auburn native Ray Stevens (Class of 1986) the fellowship is named after Professor Emeritus of Chemistry John S. Ricci, whose mentoring turned Stevens from a lack-luster student into the brilliant researcher who today has his own lab at Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif., the largest biomedical research institute in the U.S.  Stevens’ intention was to replicate a summer experience he shared with Ricci at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Long Island, N.Y. while he was a student at USM.

Dhyana is the daughter of Betty Williams of Auburn, and grew up in mid-coast Maine where she graduated from Chop Point School in Woolwich.  She enlisted in the National Guard in 2000 to help pay for her education.  As a member of the 152 Maintenance Co. in Augusta, she spent a year deployed in Baghdad, 8 months of which she was a tower guard. Dhyana wasn’t sure what her future plans were, until she received the Ricci Fellowship. “I have been working on my degree for ten years and wondered if I was chasing rainbows.” Dhyana says when speaking about her experience at the Stevens Lab last summer, “The Ricci Fellowship gave me confirmation that they were the right rainbows.” She explains that her work last summer was the first time she was able to work alone on scientific projects. Her research consisted of conducting thermal fluorescence stability assays with connexin 26 in an effort to improve the crystallization conditions and get better resolution in x-ray crystallographic diffraction patterns.

During her time at Scripps, Dhyana was taken under the wing of Kent Baker, a member of Stevens’ staff, who, like Dhyana majored in physics as an undergraduate and now holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry. To beef up her knowledge of biochemistry Baker gave Dhyana a copy of the book “Crystalography Made Crystal Clear,” by Gale Rhodes.  Ironically, she was registered to take biochemistry with Rhodes, a longtime USM professor this fall.

Dhyana will graduate from USM in the spring of 2008, and is currently applying to graduate schools intending to continue her education.

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