Jennifer L. Greaux, a 20-year-old chemistry major at the University of the Virgin Islands, won one of the top awards at the National Research Conference of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities-Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) in February.

Greaux, a native of St. Thomas, was among 600 undergraduate students from more than 85 participating U.S. schools at the Feb. 9-12 HBCU-UP conference hosted by Bowie State University in Baltimore, Md. She took a second place award in the chemistry category of the conference's poster competition.

Five other UVI students also entered the various poster competition categories: Keridon Williams in bioinformatics, Andre Francis in biochemistry/crystallography, Latoya Brathwaite in biology, Digna Washington in chemistry and Lissette LaPlace in mathematical biology. The contingent was accompanied by UVI professors Dr. Rosalie Dance and Dr. Robert Stolz.

The National Science Foundation sponsors HBCU-UP. Its aim is to enhance the quality of science, technology, engineering and mathematics education, with a goal of broadening the diversity of the nation's scientific workforce.

Greaux's winning poster -- titled "Quantitative Analysis of Various Organic Samples by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy" -- was based on research she conducted during a summer program at the University of Mississippi in 2005.

Her research goal is to "establish a quick and efficient method to analyze samples found at crime scenes, such as pills, powders and liquids," Greaux said. She became interested in forensic toxicology after discovering chemistry. "When I first came to UVI I was an education major. Then, I took a chemistry class and decided to change my major."

In the future, following graduation from UVI in May and graduate school -- she's applied to three -- Greaux hopes to work in either a crime lab or for the federal government. And it was "not the (crime scene-style) TV programs" that spurred this interest, she said. "I feel this is an area where I can make a contribution. It's a great field, doing research and solving crime."

"The conference enabled UVI's students to network with graduate programs that represent cutting edge interdisciplinary programs and showcased young, African American researchers who are at the top of their fields," said Stolz, who is co-principal investigator of the HBCU-UP project at UVI. "Our students were also able to network with other undergraduate students from across the U.S., many of whom have plans to attend graduate school."

The conference also provided Greaux her first experience with snow. The snow -- which eventually turned into the East Coast's record-breaking blizzard of February 2006 - started falling just after the awards ceremony. "It was the icing on the cake," Greaux said.