Biological Sciences Graduate Student Awards
07-19-2023
With the wrap-up of the academic year, there are a number of graduate student awards and accomplishments that the Biological Sciences department would like to recognize.
Umbarger Outstanding Graduate Student Award
Ramizah Syahirah- her research focuses on trained immunity. This involves training immune cells generated from stem cells to enhance useful properties such as tumor or bacteria killing.
This award is given to a departmental student recognizing excellence in research, nominated by their research director and supported by a published paper, a submitted manuscript, or an abstract for a student oral or poster presentation for a national meeting. A student in any year of their PhD can be nominated although the award is generally given to a student near the end of their graduate career.
Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant
Grace Schumacher – recognizing her TA work for a graduate career's worth of courses, most recently BIOL121 in fall 2022, but also including BIOL115, 121, 135, 204, and 286
This merit-based award is given by the Department of Biological Sciences a graduate teaching assistant for excellence in undergraduate teaching based on supervisors' and students' evaluations and recommendation letters provided by nominators.
Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Honor Roll
Jonathan Lopez (JLo) – for BIOL195 and BIOL286. His research combines the study of behavior and disease in amphibians. This summer he is working to find answers to amphibian behaviors while infected with Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd). Bd is threatening 50% of the world's amphibians with extinction and some species have already experienced massive declines and extinction.
Carlay L. Teed – for the summer BIOL39500DIST. Their research revolves around color vision in birds, combining ecology and neuroscience. The practical application of knowing what colors birds can see, is that wind turbines, airplanes, etc. can be painted so that birds don’t fly into them.
2023 Teaching Academy Graduate Excellence in Teaching Award
Nicole L. Anderson – BIOL110 and the BIOL195 CURE course taught by Matt Olson. She studies immune cell types, their roles and functions contributing to inflammatory bowel disease.
Claire Pfeffer – BIOL 415 and BIOL 516. She studies pancreatic cancer, specifically the cell signaling regulated by the phosphatase, PP2A.
These awards, given by the Center for Instructional Excellence (CIE), honor Graduate Student Teaching Assistants from across campus for their dedication to Purdue students and their outstanding teaching contributions. This recognition is sponsored by the Purdue University Teaching Academy and the Office of the Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning.
Bilsland Fellowships
Jennifer Lee - Fall 2023. Her research is in Lowes Syndrome, primarily variant characterization and drug treatment for the disorder.
Claire Overly-Cottom - Spring 2024. She works on a drug target for a gram-negative bacterium. These bacteria are important because they are major players in the antibiotic resistant crisis.
These fellowships are for graduate students who will complete their PhD and graduate in the fall or spring semester of the following year, providing one semester award for graduate student support.
Ross/Lynn Assistantships
Ramizah Syahirah- her research focuses on trained immunity. This involves training immune cells generated from stem cells to enhance useful properties such as tumor or bacteria killing.
Proposal title: Enhancing the efficacy of CAR-neutrophils for cancer immune therapy through trained immunity
Jihye Son – She studies epigenetics in cancer- how histone methylation leads to dynamic regulation of gene expression. Specifically, the role of epigenetics in driving drug resistance.
Proposal title: Identification of oncogenes under KMT5C-H4K20me3 regulation and the KMT5C interaction that drives osimertinib resistance in non-small cell lung cancer.
These fellowships are for an outstanding research proposal submitted by graduate students who have completed their preliminary exams successfully (the student can be in any year of their PhD career after completing the preliminary exam requirement). The Ross/Lynn Assistantship provides full year graduate student support for 2023-2024.
NIH F31 fellowship
Nicole Anderson - Immune cell types, their roles and functions contributing to inflammatory bowel disease.
Proposal title: "T-cell STAT3-BATF axis regulates intestinal γδ T-cell homeostasis and disease."
Thank you to all of our graduate students for their hard work over the last academic year.
Written by Alisha Referda, Communications Specialist