Annual Awards Day Ceremony
2025 Annual Awards Day Ceremony
Opening Remarks
- Heidi Goodrich-Blair – Professor and Head
Hires
- Sara Clasen – Assistant Professor
- Haley Dylewski – Teaching Assistant Professor
- Carolyn Ibberson – Assistant Professor
- Emily Landolt – Research Associate (L. Burcham Lab)
- Chase Raby – Research Assistant (Clasen Lab)
- Adrianna Tompros – Research Technician (Ibberson Lab)
Appointments and Promotions
- Gary LeCleir – Teaching Associate Professor (2024)
- Jill Mikucki – Professor (2024)
- Tim Sparer – Professor (2024)
- Chunlei Su – Professor (2024)
- Erik Zinser – Professor (2024)
Departmental Undergraduate Student Awards
- Microbiology Summer Research Award
- Jeff & Nancy Becker Undergraduate Research in Microbiology
- Krishna and Santha Reddy Research Award
- D. Frank Holtman Outstanding Academic
- Achievement Award
- Lisa A. Kahn Memorial Award
Departmental Graduate Student Awards
- William F. Hutson Excellence in Graduate Student Research
- Kenneth L. & Wanda G. Beattie Excellence in Grad Student Research
- David C. White Travel Award
- Department Outreach Award
- Microbiology Outstanding Student Mentor
- Microbiology Outstanding Student Research Award
- Microbiology Outstanding Student Service Award
- Microbiology Outstanding Student Teaching Award
Departmental Graduate Student Awards
- William F. Hutson Excellence in Graduate Student Research
- Kenneth L. & Wanda G. Beattie Excellence in Grad Student Research
- David C. White Travel Award
- Department Outreach Award
- Microbiology Outstanding Student Mentor
- Microbiology Outstanding Student Research Award
- Microbiology Outstanding Student Service Award
- Microbiology Outstanding Student Teaching Award
Departmental Faculty & Staff Awards
- Microbiology Outstanding Faculty Teaching Award
- Microbiology Outstanding Faculty Service Award
- Microbiology Outstanding Faculty Research Award
- Microbiology Outstanding Faculty Mentor
- Rachelle Allen Departmental Service Award
Graduate Student Master’s Defenses, Academic Year 2024-2025
- “Assessment of enzyme stability in subsurface sediments by computational methods”, Kambiz Kalhor MS (Steen Lab)
- “Role of PerR in Group B Streptococcus regulation of peroxide and iron stress”, Stephen Lumsdaine MS (L. Burcham Lab)
- “Environmental fatty acid sources can alter antibiotic susceptibility of Enterococci and other Gram-positive”, Sudan Maharjan MS (Fozo Lab)
- “Seasonal variation in microbial community members in Tellico Reservoir”, David Niknejad MS (Wilhelm Lab)
- “Heme Acquisition in Campylobacter jejuni using the Chu Heme Transport System and its Role in Colonization and Pathogenesis”, Vincent Randaisi MS (Johnson Lab)
- “The Development of a Web-Based Tool to Facilitate Epidemiological Research of Toxoplasma gondii”, Gabrielle Russell MS (Su Lab)
Graduate Student PhD Defenses, Academic Year 2024-2025
- “Protein Engineering of Bacterial Proteases for Enhanced Poly-L-lactic Acid Depolymerization”, Jordan Cannon PhD (Reynolds Lab)
- “Ecological characterization of viral communities in climate-sensitive environments using ‘omics approaches”, Elizabeth Denison PhD (Wilhelm Lab)
- “Investigating oxidative stress and large-scale genomic reduction in Vibrio natriegens through the development and application of new genetic techniques”, Elizabeth Glasgo PhD (Zinser Lab)
- “Hydrogen peroxide impacts on marine phytoplankton community structure: A Modeling Story”, Donna “Katie” McCullough PhD (Talmy Lab)
- “Studies of microbial phenotypic adaptations and interactions in varied hosts and environments”, Sayali Mulay PhD (Podar Lab)
- “Microbial interactions in an Antarctic desert: responses to environmental change and tools for life detection”, Jacob Shaffer PhD (Mikucki Lab)
- “The conservation, regulation, and function of chromosomal type I toxin-antitoxins in E. coli”, Selene Shore PhD (Fozo Lab)
- “Comparative ecophysiology and the effects of the mobilome on Microcystis physiology and genomic architecture”, Gwendolyn Stark PhD (Wilhelm Lab)
- “Hidden Players in Marine Pollution: Investigating Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Co-metabolism in Marine Bacteria”, Jillian Walton PhD (Buchan Lab)
Fall 2024 Bachelor of Science, Biological Sciences, Microbiology Graduates
- Al Salem, Wala
- Boshnag, Hanna Ahmed
- Drinkwater, Brittany
- Fung, Valerie W
- Hay, Marcus Christian
- Heatherly, Reagan Daniel
- Mathis, Kohl Aaron
- Mekuria, Elizabeth Alex
- Morten, Tristan Lee
- Seddon, Molly Ann
- Wilson, Maya J
Spring/Summer 2025 Bachelor of Science, Biological Sciences, Microbiology Graduates
- Allen, Abigail Kayla
- Arender, Elijah Matthew
- Bagwell, James Dawson
- Beehn, Emily Jennifer
- Blount, Kelsie Nichole
- Cantrell, Emily Grace
- Cates, Garrick Nolan
- Chmielewski, Olivia Nicole
- Filloon, Madeline Ann
- Gore, Sumner Christian
- Griffin, Nia Alexandria
- Hamilton, Sydney Grace
- Hoffman, Alexandra Mary
- Holland, Annie Mae
- Kucela, Kayla Nicole
- Levy, Emma Christine
- Marandola, Alyssa
- McGuire, Molly Anne
- Mennen, Ellie C
- Mitchell, Dylan Reese
- Moore, Tristan Daniel
- Myers, Tyler Glenn
- Nguyen, Hoa Gia
- Pullen, Grace E
- Reyes, Tucker Jerrold
- Rosellini, Gabriella Valentina
- Schepens, William Watterston
- Searcy, Theodore Christopher
- Sherman, Noah Phillip
- Simpson, Mikayla Denice
- Skoda, Vivian Wynn
- Staley, John Garrett
- Steen, William Mark
- Sweeney, Caroline Elizabeth
- Sweet, Margaret Montague
- Taylor, Hailey Michele
- Torgerson, Alexandria Grace
- Trent, Brianna N
- Vaccaro, Nicole Marie
- Walker, Makayla Shanice
- Zaharie, Emily
- Al-Garawi, Majid Rashid
- Belevska, Eva
- Dailey, Carissa Cheyenne
- Lawson, Amber E
- Reynolds, Hayden Garfield
- Tauch, Gavin Michael
Undergraduate Student Recognition and Awards
Summer 2024 Advanced Undergraduate Research Activity (AURA) Award
Hanna Boshnag (Z. Burcham Lab)
Evelyn Saunders (Buchan Lab)
EUReCA 2025 Award of Excellence
Summer 2024 Faculty Research Assistants Award (FRAF)
Emily Cantrell (Z. Burcham Lab)
Grace Pullen (Goodrich-Blair Lab)
Spring 2025 Department Research Assistants (DRA) Program
Anna Fletcher (Clasen Lab)
ASUReS 2025 Award of Excellence
Tyler Myers (Goodrich-Blair Lab)
Vanesa Torres (Goodrich-Blair Lab)
EUReCA 2025 Award of Excellence
Helene Hoover (Sparer Lab)
2025 Torchbearer
Tyler Myers (Goodrich-Blair Lab)
Academic Honors Award
Tyler Myers (Goodrich-Blair Lab)
Churchill Scholarship, University of Cambridge
Tyler Myers (Goodrich-Blair Lab)
Graduate Student Recognition and Awards
Academic Year 2024-2025 Graduate Student Senate Travel Awards:
- Aanuoluwa Adekoya
- Nimat Ajide-Bamigboye
- Emmanuel Allwell
- Jennifer Baily
- Emily Bowden
- Shannon Fulton
- Kennedi Hambrick
- Morgan Hetzel
- Bailey Holder
- Cameron Moore
- Sayali Mulay
- Jahirul Rafi
- Calleigh Reber
Academic Year 2024-2025 Fellowships:
2024-2025 UT-ORII GATE Fellowship
Mikayla Mangrum (Reynolds Lab)
2024-2025 SEC Emerging Scholar
Frank May (Buchan Lab)
NIH T32 Fellowship
Saloni Gupta (Buchan Lab)
Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transformation (SMART) Fellowship
Meaghan Adler (Parker Lab)
Academic Year 2024-2025 Departmental Fellowships
- Aliya Collins (Elaine and Arthur Brown)
- Ashley Grantham (Kenneth and Wanda Beattie)
- Aleya Last (Elaine and Arthur Brown)
- Sarah Lott (Dr. D. Frank Holtman Scholarship Fund
- Isabella Maggard (Dr. D. Frank Holtman Scholarship Fund)
- Reese Saho (William Hutson Scholarship)
- Cyric Stults (Krishna/Santa Reddy)
Other Awards
2MT Finals People’s Choice
Aanuoluwa Adekoya (Ibberson Lab)
ASM Young Ambassador
Aanuoluwa Adekoya (Ibberson Lab)
UTK Graduate School Research Award
Aanuoluwa Adekoya (Ibberson Lab)
Graduate School Rowland Family Scholarship
Reese Saho (Z. Burcham Lab)
One Year Membership in ASM through Excellence in Science Program
Aanuoluwa Adekoya
Emmanuel Allwell
Durina Dalrymple
Aleya Last
Cameron Moore
2024 AAAS Fellow
Alison Buchan
Academic Honors Award
Jessica Pyle
CAS Outstanding Financial Support Award
Rachelle Allen
NIH MIRA Award
Lindsey Burcham
Andrew Monteith
Royal Society of Science of the Canada Academy of Science Fellow
Steve Wilhelm
ASUReS 2025 Award of Excellence
Ryan Mesler (L. Burcham Lab)
Natalie Smith (L. Burcham Lab)
Ray Holton Award
Alex Truchon (Wilhelm Lab)
National Cave and Karst Research Institute Scholar Award
Olivia Vinnes (Mikucki Lab)
NASA Early Career Collaboration Award
Will Wallentine (Mikucki Lab)
2025 Biolegend Immunology Travel Award
Calleigh Reber (Monteith Lab)
2025 Bio-Techne’s AAI Travel Grant
Calleigh Reber (Monteith Lab)
2021 Annual Awards Day Ceremony
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
Alabandi, Fatimah Mahdi
Baber, Egan H.
Batey, Autumn P.
Bosher, Madison T.
Britton, Jacob D.
Brown, Jerame A.
Brown, Anthony L.
Bushnag, Sarah K.
Carlson, Quinton L.
Clance, Jared J.
Cheney Carinne J.
Cole, Maxwell I.
Costa, Antonio V.
Delk, Nathan M.
Demetros, Alexander
Eddlemon, Kennedy A.
Emert, Pippa
Esslinger, Xavier L.
French, Austin M.
Frieze, Kaleigh M.
Harrison, Jonathan
Holland, Kelsey P.
Hyde, Thomas (honors)
Jarret, Abigayle
Keck, Kaylee, R.
Lamie, Alexandria J.
List, Emily B.
Luckhaupt, Madison P.
Mai, Minh Nhat
Mcabee, Sydney E.
Mchone, Sarah E.
Mcledon, Ryan C.
O’Brien, Morgan
Patel, Denial C.
Perez-Acosta, Gabriela A.
Perry, Cameron M.
Pham, Jessica Q.
Pineda, Priscilla N.
Presley, Andrew T.
Prichett, Justin L.
Quinn, Zoe E.
Ray, Christopher D.
Schobel, Sarah M.
Sharp, Lydia E.
Skeirik, Ian K.
Torreverde, John S.
Tucker, Lindsey L.
White, Megan (honors)
Wright, Jacob A.
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).
2020 Annual Awards Day Ceremony
Special Recognition
- Special Recognition to Dr. Sue Leffell from our Board of Visitors for attending the 2020 Microbiology Awards Day Ceremony
- Special Recognition to Ms. Cindy Kahn, donor and departmental supporter, for attending the 2020 Microbiology Awards Day Ceremony
Recent Hires & Promotions
- Richard Marble—Appointed Animal Facility Manager
- Jill Mikucki—Promoted and Tenured Associate Professor of Microbiology
- Andrew Steen—Appointed Assistant Professor of Microbiology, joint with Earth & Planetary Sciences
Departmental Undergraduate Student Awards
Microbiology Summer Research Award
- Johnathan Harrison—Fozo Lab
- AJ Thayer—Sparer Lab
Dr. Krishna and Santha Reddy Endowed Scholarship
- Andrea Ramirez—Sparer Lab
- Heena Patel—Eda Lab
D. Frank Holtman Undergraduate Academic Achievement
- Kristie Wise
Lisa A. Kahn Memorial Award
- Brennan Hughes—Wilhelm Lab
Departmental Graduate Student Awards
William Hutson Award for Excellence in Graduate Research
- Eric Gann—Wilhelm Lab
Microbiology Research Excellence Award
- Katherine Moccia—Lebeis Lab
- Brittni Kelley—Johnson Lab
Graduate Student Teaching Award
- Bikash Bogati—Fozo Lab
- April Armes—Buchan Lab
Data as Art Award
- Sean Callahan—Johnson Lab
- Brittany Zepernick—Wilhelm Lab
Departmental Faculty and Staff Awards
Undergraduate Faculty Teaching Award
- Dr. Todd Reynolds
Department Service Award/Extraordinary Customer Service
- James Hodges—Biology Business Office
Celebrating Successes
Graduate Student Master’s Defenses AY19-20
- Campylobacter—Infection of young children in a Latin American middle-income country and its impact on the gastrointestinal environment
Jessie Tweedie (Johnson Lab) - Effects of long-term use and incorporation of biodegradable plastic mulch films on soil microbial community structure and activity
Jose Liquet Gonzalez (DeBruyn Lab) - It’s All in the Mix: Physiological effects of fatty acid supplementation on Enterococcus faecalis
Will Brewer (Fozo Lab)
Graduate Student PhD Defenses AY19-20
- Investigating the distribution and function of the bacterial DUF560 superfamily of outer membrane proteins using Xenorhadus bacteria as a model
Terra Mauer (PhD UW-Madison; Goodrich-Blair Lab) - Physiological and ecological characterization of the Aureococcus anophagefferens virus host system
Eric Gann (Wilhelm Lab) - Breaking the Chain: Identifying and characterizing novel Bacilli capable of degrading recalcitrant polymers
Kyle Bonifer (Reynolds Lab) - Characterization and elucidation of lysogeny on host physiology and metabolism in a one-host-two-phage rosebacter model system
Jonelle Basso (Buchan Lab) - Title: Forthcoming
Spiridon Papoulis (Zinser Lab), Summer 2020
Spring/Summer 2020 Bachelor of Science, Biological Sciences, Microbiology Graduates
Altawil, Laura M.
Anderson, Reed H.
Beard, Victoria N.
Bickers, Michael C.
Billingsley, David C.
Blackmon, Ra’Tia L.
Blazer, Christian D.
Bronson, Rhi N.
Calleja, Christian J.
Clance, Jared J.
Coderre, Abbey C.
Counts, John W.
Dicenso, Madeline A.
Elbon, Claire E.
Fahim, Andrew M.
Goldberg, Nicolas A.
Gordon, Eriko M.
Hall, Madison R.
Heilig, Jeremy C.
Henderson, Casey M.
Herron, Tallis C.
Hughes, Brennan J.
Ingram, Annsley E.
Jacobs, Kaylee R.
Jaff, Lavan T.
Kent, Mallory P.
Lumsdaine, Stephen W.
Nguyen, Minh Tram T.
Patel, Darshan
Patel, Heena M.
Patel, Shivam A.
Poloway, Jacob
Quirke, Harrison M.
Ramirez, Andrea
Redmond, Latoria N.
Regen, Ramsey N.
Reyes, Josie I.
Smith, Emily L.
Smith, Jared C.
Turner, Aimee R.
Watters, Whitney J.
Wise, Kristie L.
You, Jiyong
Honorable Mentions and Accolades
Undergraduate Students
- EUReCA 2020 Awards of Excellence:
- Victoria Beard (DeBruyn lab)
- Karsten Parker (Eda lab)
- Andrea Ramirez (Sparer lab)
- Kaylie Richard (Johnson lab)
- UT Office of Research & Engagement Summer Undergraduate Research Awards Award from the Office of Undergraduate Research:
- Grace Bryant (Ganusov lab)
- Ryan McLendon (Zinser lab)
- Shelby Whitehead (Wilhelm lab)
- 7th Annual Southeastern Biogeochemistry Symposium Award:
- Claire Elbon (Buchan Lab) 2nd place oral presentation
Graduate Students
- National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program Award—Donna McCullough (Talmy lab) and Brittany Zepernick (Wilhelm lab)
- National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program, Honorable Mention—Selene Hess (Fozo lab)
- American Society for Microbiology Youth Ambassador, Project Grant—Brittany Zepernick (Wilhelm lab)
- American Society for Microbiology Youth Ambassador for Tennessee – Matthew Tuttle (Buchan lab)
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Grant—Brittany Zepernick (Wilhelm lab)
- UTK CAS Penley Graduate Fellowship—Spiridon E. Papoulis (Zinser lab)
- UTK Graduate School J Wallace and Katie Dean Endowment Fellowship—Elizabeth Denison (Wilhelm lab)
- UTK Graduate School Yates Dissertation Fellowship – Jonelle Basso (Buchan lab)
- UTK Graduate School Fellowship Spring 2020—Benjamin Calfee (Zinser lab)
- 2019 Knoxville Scipreneur Challenge, 1st Place—Matt Tuttle (Buchan lab)
- 7th Annual Southeastern Biogeochemistry Symposium, 2nd place poster presentation award —Timothy Rogers (Lloyd Lab)
- 2020 UTRF Featured Inventors—Haley Dylewski & Hunter Rice (Eda llab)
- UTK Graduate Student Senate Travel Award—Andy Wagner (Reynolds lab)
- Global Catalyst Student International Travel Grant—Andy Wagner (Reynolds lab)
- One Year Membership in AAAS through Excellence in Science Program: April Armes (Buchan Lab), Eric Gann (Wilhelm lab), Hunter Rice (Eda lab), Bikash Bogati (Fozo lab), Erin Mans (Goodrich-Blair lab), Brittni Kelley (Johnson lab), Ben Calfee (Zinser lab), Spiridon Papoulis (Zinser lab), Matthew Tuttle (Buchan lab), Katie Sipes (Lloyd lab), Katherine Moccia (Lebeis lab), Briana McDowell (Loeffler lab)
Faculty & Staff
- UTK College of Arts & Sciences Distinguished Research Award —Steven Wilhelm
- UTK College of Arts & Sciences Teaching Award—Sarah Lebeis
- ORE Expanding Horizons SEED Grant—Jill Mikucki
- Ian Morris Scholar 2020, Horn Point Laboratory in Maryland—Karen Lloyd
- Chancellor’s Honors 2020 (Extraordinary Service to the University)—Lori Cole
In the News and Popular Press
- Honorable Feature in Podcast—Frozen Frontiers: The Alien, Iron-Breathing Microbes of Blood Falls—Caleb Schuler (Mikucki lab)
- 2nd Ted Talk—Karen Lloyd, The mysterious microbes living deep inside the earth—and how they could help humanity
- Honorable Feature in Wall Street Journal—Jill Mikucki
- Honorable Feature in WBIR News Article—Steven Wilhelm
- Honorable Feature in SciTechDaily—Drew Steen
- Honorable Feature in American Society for Microbiology—Steven Wilhelm
- UT Named by Research Fronts in Top 10 for Cyanobacterial Bloom Research—Steven Wilhelm
- Honorable Feature in WVLT News—Karen Lloyd
- Honorable Contribution to the forthcoming edition of Microbiology, an Evolving Science—Erik Zinser
- Honorable Feature in Podcast—Frozen Frontiers: The Alien, Iron-Breathing Microbes of Blood Falls—Jill Mikucki
- Honorable Feature in ASBMB Today Article entitled Giant Gene Thieves—Steven Wilhelm
- Honorable Feature UTK Article—Terry Hazen
Closing Remarks:
2019 Annual Awards Day Ceremony
- Microbiology Research Excellence Award
- William F. Hutson Graduate Award for Outstanding Research Achievement
- Summer Research Stipends – Undergraduate Research Award
- Jeff and Nancy Becker Undergraduate Reseach Scholarships
- David White Memorial Travel Award
- Lisa A. Kahn Memorial Award
- D. Frank Holtman Undergraduate Academic Achievement Award
- Data as Art Award
- Dr. Krishna and Santha Reddy Fund Scholarship
- Department Service Award “the Rachelle”
- Extraordinary Customer Service Award (Winner Ben McFall)
- Undergraduate Faculty Teaching Award
