The Drexel and Delaware Valley Chapters of The American Society for Information Science are pleased to present their annual Excellence in Writing Award to:

Melinda received a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Pace University in 1990. As an undergraduate, she participated in a National Science Foundation research program in chemical periodicity (at Brandeis University), and did undergraduate research in this area as well. 

After graduation, she worked in drug discovery research at Merck & Co. for five and a half years. She was on the team that did the research that led to the discovery of Crixivan, Merck's potent new AIDS drug, and worked on the arthritis and antibacterial programs as well. It was here that she became interested in the impact that information technology is having on scientific research in general, and on drug discovery research in particular, and decided to pursue an M.S.I.S. degree at Drexel. 

Her areas of particular interest include data mining and data warehousing, knowledge-based systems, and expert systems, as she sees in these technologies enormous potential to enhance the way scientific research is done. After graduation, she hopes to weave together her interests in information technology and the sciences, either in industry or in doctoral research.