2024 Graduate Awards and Honors
The 2024 awards, publications, service and outreach flyer can be found here.
2022 Graduate Student Award winners! Heading link
Awards Heading link
| 2024 Award for Excellence in Teaching | Samson Adejumo, Erik Andersson, Shawn Arreguin, Nikolas Ballut, Stefania Briones, Susie Hammons, Allie Kemph, Sarah Romy, Mushaine Shih, Samira Umar, Matthew Weed |
| 2024 Award for Excellence in Research | Samson Adejumo, Nicole Curtis, Katie Fowler, Cesar Fuentes, Philip Johnson, Natalia Ruiz-Vargas, Austin Wilcox |
| 2024Award for Excellence in Service | César Fuentes |
| 2024 Diversity and Inclusion Award for Service | Samson Adejumo |
| 2024 Diversity and Inclusion Award for Mentoring | Rosa Mendoza |
| MCDB Student Seminar Outstanding Engagement Award | Sam Fischer, Cliff Yerby |
Publications Heading link
Terrence C. Demos, Paul W. Webala, Steven M. Goodman, JulianC. Kerbis Peterhans, Holly L. Lutz, Bernard R. Agwanda, NataliaCortés-Delgado, Stefania Briones, Richard H. Ree, Bruce D.Patterson, Ultraconserved elements resolve phylogenetic relationships and biogeographic history of African-Malagasy bent winged bats (Miniopterus), Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, Volume 188, 2023, 107890, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2023.107890.
Natalia Ruiz-Vargas, Karolis Ramanauskas, Alexa S Tyszka, Eric C Bretz, May T S Yeo, Roberta J Mason-Gamer, Joseph F Walker. Transcriptome data from silica-preserved leaf tissue reveal gene flow patterns in a Caribbean bromeliad. Annals of Botany. https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcae002 Published: 05 January 2024
Fuentes-Montejo, C. E., Aguirre, W., Elías, D. J., Barrientos, C., McMahan, C. D. (2024). Niche overlap between sympatric cichlid species of the genus Rocio (Cichliformes: Cichlidae) in Guatemala. Ecology of Freshwater Fish, 33, e12759. https://doi.org/10.1111/eff.12759
Outreach & Service Heading link
| Fariha Islam | Graduate Student liaison for BIOS DEIJ Committee Global Ambassador and “First Friends Program” for OIS, Mentor Tutoring Chicago - STEM |
| Rosa Mendoza | Created “Inspiring Initiative” – College preparation for underrepresented students in South Side Chicago schools. Mentor with Argonne ACT-SO High School Research Program, a STEM enrichment volunteer program. Working with Dr. Hilda Range at the Institute of Public Health of Mexico to foster interest in science in middle school girls. Ambassador for LAS GANAS |
| Samson Adejumo | Mentor America Needs You (ANY) Mentor Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics (ACT-SO) Mentor Tutoring Chicago - STEM Mentor Pen Pal 2023-2024 UIC School of Public Health Mentorship program Volunteer as Disaster Action Team at the American Red Cross Volunteer as Lead Rescuer at Rescue Leftover Cuisine. Graduate Seminar Representative for 2022 Cohort Blood Donor Ambassador with ABC7 Volunteer Team A Microbiology/Biology Judge at ACT-SO Olympia 2024 Innovation Stage Judge at Conrad Challenge 2024 UIC Judge at UIC Undergraduate Research Forum (URF) 2024 |
| Katherine Fowler | “Buddy System” reviewer of manuscripts from authors whose first language is not English, Journal of Mammalogy Reviewer for Journal of Zoology Reviewer for Journal of Zoo & Aquarium Research Skype A Scientist volunteer Communications Committee for the International Society of Wildlife Endocrinology |
| César Fuentes | Chair-Elect (2024), Outreach Committee member (2024), Student International Liaison (2023), Student Representative of Conservation Committee (2023). Committee on Student Participation from the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (ASIH) |
Presentations Heading link
Erik Andersson
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MANA 5th Annual Conference (October 2023) Presentation Title: . Investigating the impact of aquaculture water
additives on the sablefish (Anoplopoma fimbria) microbiome.
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National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) Division Seminar (January 2024) Presentation Title: Investigating the impact of aquaculture water additives on the sablefish (Anoplopoma fimbria) microbiome function using metabolomics
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University of Illinois at Chicago Ecology and Evolution Seminar Series (February 2024) Presentation Title: Metabolic activity of symbiotic and aposymbiotic northern star coral (Astrangia poculata) and their microbial communities
Nicole Curtis
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Curtis, N., Jeffery, C., (2024, April). Enzymes in Carbohydrate Metabolism Moonlighting as RNA Binding Proteins. Poster session presented at Notre Dame University’s 17th Midwest Conference on Protein Folding, Assembly and Molecular Motions in South Bend.
Nicole Dziedzic
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American Geophysical Union (AGU 2023), Can Plant Functional Traits Be Used as Integrators of Environmental Stressors in Urban Areas? Poster.
César Fuentes
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Fuentes-Montejo, C. E., Aguirre, W., Elías, D. J., Barrientos, C., and McMahan, C. D. Traslape de nicho? Ecología y morfología de especies simpátricas de Rocio (Teleostei: Cichlidae) en Guatemala. I Congreso Mesoamericano de Ecología y Evolución. Guatemala City, Guatemala. 2023
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Fuentes-Montejo, C. E., Elías, D. J., García, P. E. and McMahan, C. D. Distribution patterns of Species Richness of Freshwater Fishes in the Usumacinta River Basin: Is there a Mid-Domain? Joint Meeting of Ichthyologist and Herpetologists. Norfolk, VA, USA. 2023
Jasmine Hopkins
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“CIRTL Network Teaching-as-Research Presentations” April 11, 2024. Title of Presentation: “Use of templates and guides to help bridge the gap between novice and expert: improving scientific literacy in an upper-level Biology course.”
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Chicago Symposium Series Excellence in Teaching Mathematics And Science: Research and Practice, April 2024. Title of workshop: Bridging the Gap between Novice and Expert: Creating walkthroughs and guides to scaffold student learning
Jessica Montoya
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Montoya, J., Hodge, R., Marin, I., Salles, A.. Social Dominance Hierarchies in Mixed-Sex Groups of Carollia perspicillata. NASBR. October 12, 2023.
Madhura Paranjpe
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“Insights into the molecular mechanism of translation inhibition by the ribosome targeting antibiotic thermorubin”; Rustbelt RNA Meeting 2023, Michigan State University (October 27, 2023). University of Illinois Chicago Liberal Arts and Sciences Faculty Research Symposium on Drug Discovery (March 7, 2024).
Akshaya Rajaraman
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Society of Developmental Biology Conference 2023 – Presented a poster titled ‘From stem to stern: Navigating the protein complex landscape of cellular differentiation’.
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Midwest Protein Folding conference 2023 – Presented a poster titled ‘It’s Metal! Identification and Characterization of Human Metalloprotein Complexes’
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Center for Bioinformatics and Quantitative Biology Research Day – Short Talk titled ‘Devo-DIFFRAC: A machine learning based approach to build cell-type specific protein complex database.’
Ashley Rasmussen
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Argonne National Laboratory CROCUS Student Get-Together/Poster Session. Lemont, Illinois. “Does a Luxury Effect Exist in Chicago, Illinois? An Analysis of Tree Biodiversity and its Relationship to Social and Environmental Factors in the 77 Community Areas.”
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American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting. San Francisco, California. “A31I-2498: Does a Luxury Effect Exist in Chicago, Illinois? An Analysis of Tree Biodiversity and its Relationship to Social/Environmental Factors Across the 77 Community Areas of Chicago.”
Brandon Reynolds
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Science Works, Museum of Science & Industry, representing the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, October 14, 2023
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Black Creativity Career Showcase, Museum of Science & Industry, representing the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, February 24, 2024
Alexa Tyszka
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Botany 2023, July 2023. “RNA-seq and prospects for obtaining non-model plant transcriptomes”. Conference poster.
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UIC Graduate student symposium, Feb 20 2024. “Historical RNA: a novel data source for understanding the plant tree of life”. Short talk.