Student Honors & Announcements 2024

WFU Biology Announcements

AWARDS

Hope Nitsche won the Elton C. Cocke Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Student.

Alexandria Latuda, Isabella Tjan, and Josh Marett won the Walter S. Flory Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Student in Biology.

Eric Wang won the Carolina Biological Supply Company Award for Undergraduate Research.

Eric received Honors in Biology working in the lab of Professor Gloria Muday. The title of his honors thesis is “The balance between antioxidant flavonols and ROS mediates tomato pollen performance in vitro and in vivo.” Eric is pursuing a National Institutes of Health [NIH] IRTA Postbac Fellowship.” – Dr. Erik Johnson, Chair of Biology

Dr. Mackenzie Brown Anderson (’23) received the Elton C. Cocke Award for Outstanding Biology Graduate Student.

Dr. Anthony Postiglione (’23) received the Elton C. Cocke Award for Outstanding Biology Graduate Student.

Halle Stump received the Outstanding Biology Graduate Teaching Award.

 

GOLDWATER SCHOLARS

Elena Singer-Freeman

Barry S. Goldwater Scholars have impressive academic and research credentials that have garnered the attention of prestigious post-graduate fellowship programs. The Goldwater Scholarship is the preeminent undergraduate award of its type in these fields.

 

NIH IRTA

Eric Wang (’24) will be conducting neurobiology research in the Jensen Lab at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

The National Institutes of Health [NIH] Intramural Research Training Award [IRTA] postbaccalaureate program is for recent college graduates considering graduate or professional school in healthcare and STEM fields. These are full-time research positions within one of the NIH campuses, including the main campus in Bethesda, MD.

 

AMGEN SCHOLARS

Hope Nitsche is the fourth participant from Wake Forest in the program’s history and will be the first WFU Amgen Scholar at Columbia

Hope was offered a Research Internship in Science and Engineering through the German Academic Exchange Service, which would have taken her overseas to complete a summer of research; she ultimately chose to remain in the United States as an Amgen Scholar at Columbia University. Amgen Scholars complete a funded research program at 14 select institutions (including Harvard, Caltech, Stanford and Yale) and participate in a research symposium.

 

FULBRIGHT SCHOLARS

John Hewlett West will investigate synthetic nitrogen fixation at the University of Freiburg, Germany

Congratulations to the students or recent alumni that have been selected for U.S. Student Fulbright Program Research Scholarships or English Teaching Assistants for the 2024-25 award cycle. The Fulbright award is designed to facilitate cultural exchange and increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and those of other countries.

 

NSF GRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS

Sam Schwartz (’22)

The National Science Foundation [NSF] Graduate Research Fellowship Program [GRFP] purpose is to help ensure the quality, vitality, and diversity of the scientific and engineering workforce of the United States. The program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees at accredited United States institutions. As the oldest graduate fellowship of its kind, the GRFP has a long history of selecting recipients who achieve high levels of success in their future academic and professional careers.

 

RICHTER SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS

Manqi [Manchi] Wang
Mentor: Miles Silman
Project: Assessing Ecological Transformations in Littoral Forests: A Drone-Based Study at Lighthouse Reef

Richter Scholarship Program awards are the largest single awards on campus for the purpose of independent study. Students are encouraged to pursue enriching, broadening projects that have the promise of being life-changing. To enrich the independent study experience, each student is required to have a faculty mentor for his or her project.

 

WAKE FOREST RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP RECIPIENTS

Yuan Cai
Mentor: Joost Maier
Project: Multisensory Integration on Odor Disambiguation

Keyi Huang
Mentor: Gloria Muday
Project: Calcium and ROS Signaling in Tomato Pollen under Heat Stress

Neesha Kuntamukkala
Mentor: Jason Grayson
Project: AML Relapse Prediction Post-HCST Through T Cell Profiling and Machine Learning

Ethan Lilien
Mentor: Nicklaus Ashburn
Project: Intravenous Versus Intraosseous Epinephrine Administration in Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest

Elise Lipezker
Mentor: Sheri Floge
Project: Elucidating Temperature and Predator Cues Driving Cooperative Organization in a Marine Chrysophyte

Nate Whitworth
Mentor: Susan Fahrbach
Project: Role of GABA Neurotransmitter in Brain Plasticity in Apis mellifera

Wake Forest Research Fellowships (WFRF) are designed to provide students with the opportunity to participate in intensive scholarship under the mentorship of a Wake Forest University faculty member across the summer months. The Wake Forest Research Fellowship will support projects mentored or co-mentored by Reynolda College faculty.

 

Read more about the Student Honors and Announcements in the Dean’s Office Digest:
Spring 2024 Honors & Announcements.