ShadeLab students win departmental awards!

Many congratulations to awesome ShadeLab students who have been acknowledged by the Michigan State Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics for their outstanding research efforts.

Graduate student Jackson Sorensen has been awarded the Dr. C. A. Reddy and Sasikala Reddy Endowed Graduate Award in Microbial Physiology-Ecology. Jackson's research investigates the roles of microbial reservoirs of diversity for community stability.

The Reddy Endowed Graduate Award in Microbial Physiology-Ecology is contributed by Dr. C. A. Reddy, a former distinguished faculty member of the department, and Sasikala Reddy, the former Director of College Information Systems at Health Information Technology. Dr. Reddy enjoyed teaching undergraduate and graduate courses for 36 years, particularly those relating to infectious diseases with a focus on bacterial and mycological diseases. He is recognized nationally and internationally for his research contributions on lignin biodegradation and for inventing SumaGrow, a microbial product that markedly enhances the productivity of a broad spectrum of food and vegetable crops.

Graduate student Taylor Dunivin has been awarded the Philipp and Vera Gerhardt Travel Award to attend the upcoming ISME16 meeting in Montreal Canada (August 2016). At ISME, Taylor plans to present her work on arsenic resistance among microorganisms from soils impacted by the ongoing Centralia coal mine.