Contacts:	Laurie Mellas-Ramirez, 277-5915
June 12, 2002 UNM SOCIOLOGY GRADUATE STUDENTS SELECTED NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH FELLOWSHIP RECIPIENTS Ethel Gamboa Nicdao and W. Azul La Luz, graduate students in the University of New Mexico Sociology Department, are among 10 nationwide recently selected for a National Institute of Mental Health Pre-doctoral Fellowship awarded by the American Sociological Association (ASA) Minority Fellowship Program. Nicdao, a native of the Philippines, and La Luz, of Puerto Rico, will receive a monthly stipend for the 2002-03 academic year and funding to attend the national ASA conference in August in Chicago, Ill. The fellowship is renewable for up to three years. Both students are pursuing Ph.D.s in sociology with a concentration in medical sociology and race and ethnicity. "The fellowship will assist me in becoming a better researcher because it is freeing me up to do pure research. I am currently doing research on drug addiction in Rio Arriba County. It will also improve my chances of landing a faculty research position once I finish my Ph.D., which will be in 2004," La Luz said. In addition, La Luz and recent UNM sociology graduate Jay Meridith Martin received grants to attend the National Hispanic Science Network Summer Research Training Institute on Hispanic Drug Abuse in Houston, Texas. ###

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