2024 Graduate Awards and Honors
Introduction
The 2025 awards, publications, service and outreach flyer can be found here.
2025 Graduate Student Award winners!
Awards
| 2025 Award for Excellence in Teaching | Tristan Bakke, Eleus Bhuiya, Eric Bretz, Pritha Das, Zachary Fyke, Kyle Knudsen, Phong Lai, Luisa Mestriner, Kiersten Oderman, Kelsey Patrick, César Siete, Noah Skelly |
| 2025 Award for Excellence in Research | Sage DeLong, Beatriz Dybas da Natividade, Zachary Fyke, Allison Kemph, Garry Lewis, Alexa Tyszka, Miles Woodcock-Girard |
| 2025 Award for Excellence in Service | Nikolas Ballut |
| 2025 Diversity and Inclusion Award for Service | Jamuna Tandukar |
| 2025 Diversity and Inclusion Award for Mentoring | Fariha Islam |
Publications
Tumour Immunotherapy and Applications of Immunological Products: A Review of Literature, Angus Nnamdi Oli, Samson Adedeji Adejumo, Adekunle Babajide Rowaiye, Joyce Oloaigbe Ogidigo, Jarrad Hampton-Marcell, Gordon C. Ibeanu 24 October 2024 https://doi.org/10.1155/2024/8481761
SA DeLong, C Desjonquères, LA Cirino. 2024. Vibrational signals differ between contests and copulatory courtship in the red milkweed beetle Tetraopes tetrophthalmus (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae). Behaviour.
Belonio, K. C*., Haile, E. S*., Fyke, Z., Vivona, L., Konanur, V., Theja Tulabandhula, & Zak, J. D. (2024). Amplification of Olfactory transduction currents implements sparse stimulus Encoding. JNeurosci. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2008-24.2025.
Grenz K, Chia KS, Turley EK, Tyszka AS, Atkinson RE, Reeves J, Vickers M, Rejzek M, Walker JF, Carella P. A necrotizing toxin enables Pseudomonas syringae infection across evolutionarily divergent plants. Cell Host & Microbe. 2025 Jan 8;33(1):20-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chom.2024.11.014
Tyszka AS, Larson DA, Walker JF. Sequencing historical RNA: unrealized potential to increase understanding of the plant tree of life. Trends in Plant Science. 2024 Nov 29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2024.11.004
“Auditory Processing of Social Communication Calls in Freely Interacting Bats” by Angeles Salles, Emely Loscalzo, Jessica Montoya, Rosa Mendoza, Kevin M. Boergens, and Cynthia F. Moss: iScience. 2024 May 3;27(6):109872. https://doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.109872. eCollection 2024 Jun 21.
Outreach & Service
| Nikolas Ballut | President Biology Graduate Student Association. Reviewed a textbook to be published by Routledge titled "Understanding Landscape Ecology". Judge for Undergraduate Research Symposium Fall 2024. |
| Rosa Mendoza | Founded and funded the “Rosa Maria y Antonio” Scholarship with Big Shoulders Fund, two students earned Greers Scholarship. Volunteer for the Institute of Public Health of Mexico “Inspiring Initiative” program to help high school students. Mentoring students of “DREAMERS” Club at T.F. North HS. Guided student through BIOS 399 Project (2 semesters). Member of BGSA (BIOS Graduate Student Association). Member of Latinx Psychology Alliance (LPA) at UIC Graduate Award 2025. Invited speaker for career day at Our Lady of Tepeyac HS. |
| Fariha Islam | Treasurer of the Biology Graduate Student Association (BGSA). Member BIOS DEIJ committee. Mentor, undergraduate students. Global Ambassador with UIC’s Office of International Services. Member, Bangladesh Student Organization. Tutor for Tutoring Chicago. Volunteer, CARE Access Chicago |
| Hamida Mahmood | Media and Communication Officer, Biology Graduate Student Association (BGSA). UIC Volunteer at American Red Cross SAF (Service to Armed Forces). Hero Care Program. Fundraiser for “Project-Hashimukh”: Alumni of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Dhaka Bangladesh. Vice-President, Logistics, UIC Bangladeshi Student Association. |
| César Fuentes-Montejo | Officer and representative for the Committee on Student Participation from the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (ASIH). Chair of the Student Participation Committee, Chair-Elect, and Outreach Committee member. Faculty Liaison Bios Graduate Student Association (BGSA). Reviewer for "Ecology of Freshwater Fish", "Huitzil Revista Mexicana de Ornitología", "PLOS ONE ", and "Revista de Biología Tropical." Reviewed a textbook to be published by Routledge titled "Understanding Landscape Ecology." |
| Gloria Olorunfemi | Event Coordinator Committee, Biology Student Association Member, BIOS DEIJ Committee Founder, STEM Herstory Vice President Administration, African Graduate Student Assoc President, ISC Illinois Chapter (Judge, Undergraduate Research Forum & ABRCMS Volunteer, UIC Chancellor’s Day of Service Lead Career Coach, Thrive Beyond Borders Mentee, MAP Summer Mentorship Program, Women in Bio Mentee, AWIS Summer Mentorship Program Mentor, Raising Africa Scholar Program Graduate Student Subcommittee Member, BIOS DEIJ Program |
Presentations
Karoline Dittmer
- Karoline Dittmer, Macey N. Coppinger, Kathrin Laramore, Eric V. Stabb. The Broad-Spectrum Racemase (BsrF) Enables Catabolism of D-arginine and D-methionine in Vibrio fischeri. Molecular Genetics of Bacteria and Phages Meeting, Madison, WI 2024
- Karoline Dittmer, Macey N. Coppinger, Kathrin Laramore, Eric V. Stabb. The Broad-Spectrum Racemase (BsrF) Enables Catabolism of D-arginine and D-methionine in Vibrio fischeri. Wind River Conference on Prokaryotic Biology, Breckenridge, CO 2024
César Fuentes-Montejo
- Fuentes-Montejo, C. E., Matamoros, W., Gonzalez-Meler, M., McMahan, C. Ecological implications of evolutionary divergence in the genus Parachromis. Joint Meeting of Ichthyologist and Herpetologists. Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Zachary Fyke
- Fyke, Z., Haile, E. S., Belonio, K. C., Konanur, V., Vivona, L., Zak, J. D. “Loss of the calcium gated Cl- channel TMEM16B alters odor coding and induces homeostatic plasticity in olfactory bulb circuits.” Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting, Neuroscience. Poster Presenter (October 2024, Chicago, IL).
- Fyke, Z., Yoshii, A. “Reduction of neuroinflammation and seizures in a mouse model of CLN1 batten disease using the small molecule enzyme mimetic, N-Tert-butyl hydroxylamine.” UIC Graduate Program in Neuroscience Research Day. Poster.
Allison Kemph
- Novel structure and composition of the unusually large germline determinant of the wasp Nasonia vitripennis. 66th Annual Drosophila Research Conference poster presentation
- FASEB RNA Localization and Local Translation Conference (2024) Flash talk and poster
Phong Lai
- Analysis of the endolysosomal pathway in coelomocytes of c. Elegans vps-39 mutants, Phong Lai, Mia Krout, Kristin Gallik, Itzel Flores, Janet Richmond. Biological Sciences Graduate Research Poster Competition on April 24th, 2024 (Tied for second place).
- Analysis of the endolysosomal pathway in coelomocytes of c. Elegans vps-39 mutants, C. elegans neuroscience topic meeting,June 2024 (Poster prize winner)
- Analysis of the endolysosomal pathway in coelomocytes of c. Elegans vps-39 mutants, 2025 Midwest C. elegans meeting, April 18th, 2025
Dathan Maton
- Botany 2024, The Botanical Society of America. Pollination patterns of Asclepias viridiflora portray resilience to habitat fragmentation. Poster.
- Environmental Justice Conference, Air & Waste Management Association. Visualizing green space disparities in Chicago. Poster.
Sarah Romy
- “How to be a good neighbor: An investigation of associational resistance through plant community characteristics” (2025), Wild Things 2025
- “How to be a Good Neighbor: Investigating Associational Resistance to Invasive Insects” (2024), Upper Midwest Invasive Species Conference
- “How to be a Good Neighbor: An Investigation of Associational Resistance Through Plant Community Characteristics” (2024), Ecology Society of America Annual Meeting 2024
Jamuna Tandukar
- Tandukar, J., “A Cell-Type Specific Investigation of Mettl3 mRNA Expression in AUD Brain”, Society for Neuroscience conference, presentation, 2024.
- Tandukar, J., “Adolescent alcohol exposure increases m6A methyltransferase Mettl3 in the central amygdala”, Research Forum Extravaganza, Department of Psychiatry, UIC, 2024
Brandon Reynolds
- Bacterial and Viral Pathogen Bioinformatics Workshop (24 Feb 2025 – 28 Feb 2025), Argonne, IL
- Black Creativity Science Cafe Career Showcase, Museum of Science & Industry (22Feb2025), Chicago, IL
Cesar Siete
- SfN: Neuroscience 2024, “Immobilization of C. elegans with different concentrations of an anesthetic for time-lapse imaging of dynamic protein trafficking in neurons”, Poster Presentation (10/9/24)
- Biological Sciences Graduate Recruitment Day Poster Presentation (2/21/25)
Lindsay Vivona
- International Symposium for Olfaction and Taste conference, June 2024 titled “Distribution of interhemispheric projections between the anterior olfactory nucleus and the olfactory bulb”.
- Society for Neuroscience conference, October 2024, titled “Distribution of interhemispheric projections between the anterior olfactory nucleus and the olfactory bulb”.