Recipient of the Carolyn W. Fite Scholarship for outstanding scholarly achievement at the University of Tennessee:
Miranda Chen
PhD candidate
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Schussler lab
There is a rising mental health crisis among graduate students. PhD students are 6 times more likely than the general public to suffer from depression or anxiety. For Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs), this may be attributed to role tension, where GTAs have multiple teaching and research priorities vying for their attention. In my dissertation, I study teaching and research anxiety of graduate teaching assistants (GTAs). My goal is to further understand what contributes to these anxieties and how GTAs cope, so we can better support the mental health of our graduate students.
Recipient of the Timothy L. Cokkinias Scholarship for outstanding scholarly achievement at the University of Tennessee:
Joseph Jackson
PhD candidate
Microbiology
Sparer lab
My work focuses on the HCMV viral chemokine, vCXCL-1, which induces an innate immune cellular response. As HCMV disseminates throughout the body via innate immune cells, we hypothesize this virally encoded chemokine alters the normal inflammatory environment and recruits innate immune cells to infection site enhancing viral dissemination. During my pursuit of an answer to this question I have developed many tools for understanding viruses, the immune system, and cutting-edge gene editing technology (i.e. CRISPR/Cas9). Additionally, I have developed a fascination with the innate immune system. My specific interests include innate immune cell function and activation in abnormal inflammatory environments. Moving forward I want to continue to unravel the primal functions of our innate immune system and how dysregulation of this system can lead to exacerbated disease induction. The skills I have learned at UT will help me as I begin a postdoctoral fellowship at Pittsburgh School of Medicine using oncolytic herpes simplex virus to combat glioblastoma multiforme.
Recipient of the Timothy L. Cokkinias Scholarship for outstanding scholarly achievement at the University of Tennessee:
Sarah Cooper
PhD Candidate
Genome Science and Technology
Parks lab
Recipient of the Alexander Hollaender Graduate Fellowship for outstanding scholarly achievement and the Biology Graduate Teaching Scholarship for outstanding instructional achievement by a graduate student:
Justin Westerfield
PhD Candidate
Biochemistry and Cellular & Molecular Biology
Barrera lab
Recipient of the Alexander Hollaender Graduate Fellowship for outstanding scholarly achievement:
Ben Holt
PhD Candidate
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Fitzpatrick lab