Dr. Sue Ritter Memorial Research Scholarship in Integrative Physiology and Neuroscience

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Candidates for the scholarship shall be nominated by their mentors, who will provide justification in writing as to why their nominee deserves consideration for the scholarship. A successful candidate will be selected from the nominees by the chairperson of the Department of Integrative Physiology and Neuroscience. While it is anticipated that an award may be made yearly, an award need not be made in years when there are no suitable nominees.

About Sue Ritter

Sue Ritter was an internationally recognized scholar in physiology and neuroscience, and a faculty member at WSU for more than 45 years. During her distinguished academic career Dr. Ritter played a seminal role in the development of the doctoral degree program in neuroscience at WSU. She also was a driving force for and a founding faculty member of WSU’s baccalaureate degree program in neuroscience, which was one of the first, if not the first, program of its kind in the western United States. Dr. Ritter’s research program was funded almost continuously by the National Institutes of Health and the American Diabetes Association over the entire span of her long career. She trained numerous graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. However, Sue had special enthusiasm for introducing undergraduate students to the wonders of the nervous system, and the joy of discovery through mentored research in her laboratory. Many of the undergraduates that Sue mentored have themselves gone on to distinguished careers in medicine and biomedical research. Sue was fond of recalling that, as a child, members of her family often told her that when God passed out the questions, He gave you more than your share. Dr. Ritter’s expectation was that her students should be mindful of their questions, and imaginative, diligent and rigorous in pursuit of answers.

Read more about Dr. Sue Ritter in Washington State Magazine

Dr. Sue Ritter Obituary