3/18/97 Contact: Joy Matthews-Lopez, 614-594-4600

ATHENS, Ohio -- A part-time mathematics instructor and graduate student at Ohio University is one of 10 people in the United States selected to receive a $19,500 assistantship grant from Educational Testing Services (ETS), the writers of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE).

Joy Matthews-Lopez, who has taught at the university since 1987, is in her second year in the graduate program in Educational Research and Evaluation in the College of Education. Matthews-Lopez is the first Ohio University student to receive the Warren W. Willingham Graduate Research Assistantship. The assistantship includes $7,500 for tuition and a $12,000 stipend, along with a Pentium computer and software. The grant is for one year, and is renewable.

As part of the assistantship, Matthews-Lopez will serve as an on-site data coordinator for a variety of research studies related to the development of a new, modular, computerized GRE General Test and other new GRE testing initiatives. She also will gather data for other ETS research projects.

Candidates for the award are nominated by faculty at their university. Most recipients are seeking a graduate degree in psychometrics, the study of the measurement of mental aptitude. The first assistantship was awarded in October 1993.

Matthews-Lopez will attend a reception hosted by ETS during the annual meeting of the American Education Research Association March 25 in Chicago.