A University of Alabama doctoral student has been awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation to research social factors surrounding the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Anthropology student Martina Thomas has been given a $16,000 grant for her research. AL.com reported Wednesday (http://bit.ly/16l2RsG ) that Thomas formed her project after interviewing black women and their daughters for a project she needed to complete to earn her master's degree.
Thomas says she found that many people held misconceptions about HIV/AIDS and some women told her they could tell who had the virus by how they look.
Thomas says she plans to study how those types of perceptions impact the risk of young women contracting HIV/AIDS.