Research and Mentorship: Frank May Supported as an Emerging Scholar
by Randall Brown
Microbiology PhD student Frank May earned support as an SEC Emerging Scholar from the University of Tennessee Graduate School for the 2024–2025 academic year. This program provides $25,000 in fellowship support plus professional development, networking, and mentoring for chosen students in their final year of doctoral work.
As one of the three UT PhD students supported by this program for the year, May will also receive travel support to attend professional conferences.
“I would like to congratulate Frank May on this important award, which sends a positive message about microbiology and the natural sciences at UT,” said Professor Kate Jones, dean, Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics in the College of Arts and Sciences. “His excellence in research, teaching, and outreach positions him to be a future leader in his chosen field.”
The financial support of this fellowship will give May more opportunity to focus on research as he completes his PhD program.
“This will enable me to spend the majority of my time working in the lab, both performing my own experiments and mentoring undergraduate students in conducting theirs,” said May.
Professor Heidi Goodrich-Blair, head of the Department of Microbiology, praises May’s dedication to scientific discovery and discourse and to student classroom and research success.
“He is a talented researcher who is untangling the complex relationships among bacterial viruses and plasmids and the cells they infect, and the higher order impact (e.g., on ecosystems) of these relationships,” said Goodrich-Blair. “His findings will have far-reaching ramifications because such impacts are ubiquitous among all cellular life on Earth.”
May’s research seeks to understand how mobile bacterial DNA alters the ability of bacteriophage—viruses that infect bacteria—to infect their hosts.
“The model organism we use is from the marine environment, giving us a better understanding of the impact of these mobile pieces of DNA, called plasmids, on this environment,” said May. “Additionally, these findings can also be extrapolated further to help us identify and understand bacterial defense strategies to viral infection.”
Goodrich-Blair also notes May’s mentorship of numerous undergraduates in independent research and his enthusiastic engagement in academic and community outreach and in organizing and participating in departmental activities.
“It cannot be understated how influential May has been on departmental committees and in representing his fellow graduate students on important issues,” she said.
May will use the support to pair outreach and professional development to represent UT microbiology at academic conferences—and return with fresh perspectives for the Vols he mentors.
“This award will assist me in attending the American Society for Microbiology Conference for Undergraduate Educators and the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minoritized Students paired conferences,” he said. “These meetings highlight new and evolving practices that better engage undergraduate students in an inclusive and equitable manner. This opportunity will expose me to new strategies that will help me grow as a biology educator to better serve future students.”