Tracy Meehan wins Deans Award on Scholars Day
The Department of Biology is proud to acknowledge graduate student Tracy Meehan of the McCall Lab for her Deans Award on Scholars Day 2014
Finzi and alum team up on Climate Change
Colin Averill (CAS '08), mentored in Dr. Adrien Finzi's lab is now earning a PhD through UT Austin’s Ecology Evolution and Behavior program. Averill is conducting research that could revolutionize our understanding of climate change, and maybe even help us fight it. CAS News..
Students win prestigious NSF GRFPs
The 2014 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowships were announced and the Department of Biology is proud to acknowledge four graduate students for their awards:
Tiffany Dill (Naya Lab): characterizing the roles of Mef2 and the Gtl2-Dio3 cluster in regulating the cell cycle of terminally differentiated heart muscle cells. Also examining how these transcription factors and microRNAs affect the cell cycle of proliferating cell types, such as stem cells. Tiffany is in the Cell and Molecular Biology program.
Amanda Gallinat (Primack Lab): studying the effects of climate change on the autumn phenology of plants, insects, and birds in New England. Amanda is in the Ecology, Behavior and Evolution program
Andrew Hoadley (Traniello Lab): studying the relationship between division of labor, brain investment, and synaptic structure in the leaf-cutter ant A. cephalotes. Results will provide insight on how subcaste-related division of labor is controlled and how brain architecture underscores task specialization in complex social organisms. Andrew is in theEcology, Behavior and Evolution program
Bryan Matthews (Waxman Lab): to elucidate what global epigenetic and gene regulatory circuits drive sex-specific gene expression in mouse liver. Bryan is in the Cell and Molecular Biology program.
In addition, several students also received honorable mentions:
Katelyn Mansfield (Gilmore Lab)
Andressa Mota (Ho Lab)
Sandy Serizier (McCall Lab)
Sarah Yunes (Hansen Lab)
Congratulations, students!
Biology Graduate Students Win Teaching Awards
Cassidy D'Aloia of the Buston Lab and NathanRycroft of the Atema Lab take honors
Graduate students Cassidy D'Aloia of the Pete Buston lab and Nathan Rycroft of the Jelle Atema lab were recognized for their excellence in teaching.
Each CAS department or program nominates the Teaching Fellow who, in the opinion of the department, has demonstrated the greatest skill, enthusiasm, and dedication in his or her teaching during the 2013-2014 academic year.
Cassidy D'Aloia was the nominee for BU Marine Program, Nathan Rycroft was the nominee for the Department of Biology.
Schneider & Warkentin lead herpetology trip to FL
BU Today
Prof. Chris Schneider and Prof. Karen Warkentin led a group of herpetology students to Florida for their spring break. For more information, pictures, and video, see BU Today's article, "Teachable Moments in Gator Country."
AAUW Awards Rose Abramoff
Finzi student wins dissertation fellowship
The American Association of University Women awarded 244 fellowships and grants for the 2014–15 award year. Awardees are committed to AAUW’s legacy of scholarship, research, and action. During the award year, the recipients will pursue graduate studies and community projects to empower women and girls in the United States and around the world.
Graduate student Rose Abramoff of the Adrien Finzi lab studies belowground carbon allocation in temperate forests. Her research is conducted at Harvard Forest and uses field measurements to empirically determine what plants do with newly fixed carbon and how this changes seasonally. Belowground carbon accumulation is a significant contributor to the overall carbon storage of a forest and is an important term in global carbon budgets and predictive climate models. Her focus is specifically in root phenology and the biotic and abiotic drivers of root production, turnover, respiration, carbohydrate accumulation, exudation and microbial exoenzyme activity
Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Fellow Award
Eva Fast, a recent PhD graduate (September 2013) who worked with Professor Horacio Frydman, has been selected for a Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Fellow Award for a three-year period. She is currently a postdoc in Professor Leonard Zon's lab at the Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology at Harvard University. In her project she will elucidate novel pathways controlling self-renewal in hematopoietic stem cells.
In addition, Dr. Fast will be honored at the PhD Hooding Ceremony by giving the student speech at the annual event to be held on May 16, 2014 this year.
Leila Haery wins NSF GK-12 Award
Leila Haery is a PhD student in the Cell and Molecular program and her research focuses on characterizing subtypes of B cell lymphoma.
She is partnered with Zach Smith, who teaches Earth Science at Boston Latin School in Boston, MA. They aim to teach the students about the scientific method and understanding the unknown using experiments. Students will become well versed in "science talk" by discussing current events in all branches of science from biology to astronomy. They also aim to discuss research on global climate change.
Etchegaray Attends Summit in Singapore
McCall Lab graduate student participates in Global Young Scientists Summit
Graduate student Iker Etchegaray was nominated by the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences to attend the Singapore National Research Foundation’s Global Young Scientists Summit in Singapore in January 2014. Etchegaray, a PhD candidate in the McCall Lab studies neurodegenerative disorders.
Schatzberg nominated for Clare Boothe Luce
Bradham grad students nominated by department
Daphne Schatzberg of the Cynthia Bradham lab was the Department of Biology nominee for the Clare Boothe Luce Award.