Opening Remarks

• Dr. Heidi Goodrich-Blair – Professor and Head, Microbiology
• Dr. Larry McKay – Professor and Assoc. Dean of Research and Facilities, College of Arts and Sciences

Recent Hires & Promotions

• Dr. Soumen Bera, Postdoctoral Research Associate (Ganusov Lab)
• Erick Carr, Informational Tech Administrator (Talmy Lab)
• Erikka Jennings, Administrative Specialist (Departmental Office)
• Dr. Matthew Kolp, Postdoctoral Research Associate (Parker Lab)
• Stephen Lumsdaine, Research Technician (Reynolds Lab)
• Dr. Barun Majumder, Postdoctoral Research (Ganusov Lab)
• Dr. Holly Saito, Lecturer (Instructional Labs)
• Dr. Laura Smith, Research Specialist (Wilhelm Lab)
• Dr. Daniel Tipton, Technical Manager (Biology Services Facility)
• Wei Wang, Research Specialist (Su Lab)
• Dr. Kristin Yoshimura, Postdoctoral Research Associate (Wilhelm Lab)

Departmental Undergraduate Student Awards

Microbiology Summer Research Award

• Matthew Jung – Zinser Lab
• John Maddox – Ganusov Lab
• Mary Wakim – Johnson Lab

Jeffrey and Nancy Becker Research Award

• Omar Alani – Goodrich-Blair Lab
• Logan Miller – Rouse Lab

The Reddy Award

• Bruce Boles – Mikucki Lab
• Justin Prichett – Parker Lab

Frank Holtman Undergraduate Academic Achievement Award

• Johnathan Harrison
• Kelsey Holland

Lisa A. Kahn Memorial Award

• Raegan Paul – Lloyd Lab

Honorable Mentions and Accolades

• Jessica DeCuyper – Honorable Mention – Goodrich-Blair Lab
• Haley Savastano – Honorable Mention – Ganusov Lab

Departmental Graduate Student Awards

William Hutson Award for Excellence in Graduate Research

• Brittni Kelley – Johnson Lab

Microbiology Research Excellence Award

• Matthew Tuttle – Buchan Lab

Graduate Student Teaching Award

• Jack Shaffer – Mikucki Lab
• David Grant – Lebeis Lab

Data as Art Award

• Jenny Heppert – Goodrich-Blair Lab

Honorable Mentions and Accolades

• Jordan Cannon – Honorable Mention
• Mikayla Mangrum – Honorable Mention

Departmental Faculty and Staff Awards

Undergraduate Faculty Teaching Award

• Dr. Elizabeth McPherson

Department Service Award

• Elise Phillips – Reynolds Lab
• Ben Holt – Fitzpatrick lab – EEB

Celebrating Successes

Graduate Student Master’s Defenses AY20-21

• Master’s thesis defense March 5, 2021 “Investigating microbial genes involved in plant colonization and the effects on plant microbiome assembly”
  David Grant (Lebeis Lab)

Graduate Student PhD Defenses AY20-21

• Ph.D. defense September 9, 2020 “More than the sum of their parts: Building a framework for understanding host-microbe interactions in Medicago sativa”
  Katherine Moccia (Lebeis Lab)
• Ph.D. defense public seminar presented on June 24, 2020 “From Genes to Ecosystems: Resource Availability and DNA Methylation Drive the Diversity and Abudnance of Restriction Modification Systems in Prokaryotes
  Spiro Papoulis (Zinser Lab)

Spring/Summer 2021 Bachelor of Science, Biological Sciences, Microbiology Graduates

Undergraduate Student Recognition and Awards

Megan Elizabeth Wilson, College of Arts and Sciences Spring 2021 outstanding undergraduate for the Biological Sciences major, Microbiology concentration

EUReCA 2021 Award of Excellence

• Jawhar Syed (Reynolds lab)

UTK Office of Research & Engagement Summer Undergraduate Research Awards Award from the Office of Undergraduate Research

• Sarah Beth Cathey – Zinser lab
• Ashley Fulmer – Sparer lab
• Kristen Holbrook – Mikucki lab

Graduate Students Recognition and Awards

AY20-21 Microbiology UTK Student Faculty Research Awards

• Selene Hess and Liz Fozo “Controlling the formation of antibiotic resistant bacterial cells in a pathogenic E. coli population”
• Liz Glasgo and Erik Zinser “Testing the hypothesis that DNA loss is beneficial in bacteria under nutrient-limitation”
• Trevor Hancock and Tim Sparer “Cat’s out of the bag!? Could there be SARS COV2 like virus circulating in cats in East Tennessee?”
• Jacob Shaffer and Jill Mikucki “Extreme microbe hunting: using comparative Omics tools to reveal useful, bioactive molecules in a rare, isolated, Antarctic brine”
• Elizabeth Ransone and Heidi Goodrich-Blair “Using next generation sequencing to define the evolving microbiome of an insect-infecting nematode”
• Sayali Mulay and Karen Lloyd “Sampling Svalbard permafrost to study microbial ecology in an extremely cold subsurface environment”

UTK Biology Division, Graduate School, Provost and Office of Research Awards

• Tennessee Fellowship for Graduate Excellence – Alexander Truchon (Wilhelm lab)
• Wallace Dean Fellowship – Jennifer Bailey (Lloyd lab)
• Wallace Dean Fellowship – Lovell Smith (Lloyd lab)
• Rowland Family Fellowship – Jill Walton (Buchan lab)
• Grad School meritorious Fellowship Spring 2021 – Bikash Bogati (Fozo lab)
• 1st place – Three Minute Thesis (3MT) research communication competition 2021 Erin Mans (Goodrich-Blair lab)
• Volunteer of Distinction – Professional Promise – Brittni Kelley (Johnson lab)
• Volunteer of Distinction – Professional Promise – Helena Pound (Wilhelm lab)
• Volunteer of Distinction – Professional Promise – Mary Wakim (Johnson lab)
• Office of Research GATE Fellowship for ORNL Collaboration – Liz Denison (Wilhelm lab)
• Cokkinias – Fite Award – Brittni Kelley (Johnson lab)

External Competitive Awards

• Office of Naval Research SERVE (Shaping Experiential Research for Veteran Education) Program Graduate Assistantship – Caleb Schuler (Mikucki lab)
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) Knauss Policy Fellowship – Lena Pound (Wilhelm lab)
• College of Arts and Sciences monetary award for departmental training, leadership, and expertise and excellence in research, teaching and mentoring – Trevor Hancock (Sparer lab)
• EBRC Industry Internship Program (Engineering Biology Research Consortium) – Matt Tuttle (Buchan lab)
• Fall 2021 Brittni Kelley (Johnson lab) – Plant Resilience Institute Postdoctoral Fellowship, Michigan State University
• 2nd place in poster session of the Southeastern Biogeochemistry Symposium – TJ Rogers (Lloyd lab)
• National Science Foundation: Advanced Studies Institute on HABs in Lake Victoria, Kenya – Brittany Zepernick (Wilhelm lab)

One Year Membership in AAAS through Excellence in Science Program:

Jordan Cannon (Reynolds lab)
Alexandra Gates (Lebeis lab)
Theresa Jones (Su lab)
Frank May (Buchan lab)
Katie McCullough (Talmy lab)

Elise Phillips (Reynolds lab)
Jacob Shaffer (Mikucki lab)
Selene Shore (Fozo lab)
Gwendolyn Stark (Wilhelm lab)
Yue Zhoe (Reynolds lab)

Faculty & Staff

• 2021 John H. Martin Award (ASLO) — Steven Wilhelm (corecipient Curtis Suttle)
• 2020-2021 UT One Health Initiative Seed Grant – Chunlei Su, Richard Gerhold, Michelle Dennis, Sree Rajeev (Developing a System for Molecular Detection and Identification of Zoonotic Pathogens of Most Concern in the USA)

In the News and Popular Press

• Brittany Zepernick (Wilhelm lab) was featured in a campus ORE article based on her award (1 of 4) from the sequencing facility / Illumina for free genomic sequencing.
• Karen Lloyd wrote a piece for The Conversation and is available here
• Jill Mikucki gave a talk this past Spring at SETI, and it is available to view online
• Vitaly Ganusov won the Elsevier Prize for his talk at the Society for Mathematical Biology Annual Conference
• Terry Hazen will receive the 2021 ASM Award for Environmental Research.
• David Talmy received the Simons Early Career Investigator in Marine Microbial Ecology and Evolution Award
• Ben Parker received a grant from the Pew Charitable Trust and is a Pew Biomedical Scholar
• Todd Reynolds was featured in a campus ORE article for his receipt of an NIH R01
• Drew Steen was featured in a February 2020 “Tap into Newark” article for his work with students at Malcolm X Shabazz high school. The article states that “Malcolm X Shabazz High School Aquatic Biogeochemistry Team is listed as a contributor in a 2018 peer-review research article from Frontiers in Microbiology” and that the group attends the annual American Geophysical Union Conference (held this year in San Francisco).