Dr. Gidi Shemer has been selected as the 2022-2023 winner of the Class of 1996 Advising Award!!! Thank you for all that you do for our students and our department!!!

Dr. Gidi Shemer has been awarded the 2023 Carolina Women’s Leadership Council Faculty Mentoring Award for “Faculty Mentor to Undergraduate Mentees” – thank you for being such an important mentor to our students!!!

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Jeff Dangl, who was elected as a member of the Royal Society for his highly impactful research regarding plant immunity. This is an incredible honor and a testament to Jeff’s outstanding career as a scientist and a member of our faculty. Read more about this announcement here and here.

Congratulations to Dr. Gidi Shemer, one of four recipients this year of The Carolina Covenant Scholars “Clark & Kessler Award” for outstanding mentorship.

This award honors the memories of Dr. Fred Clark and Mr. Frank Kessler who served as extraordinary mentors to Carolina Covenant Scholars over many, many years. The inaugural recipients of this University-wide award in 2022 were the biology department’s own Drs. Jean & Peter DeSaix. The characteristics of Clark & Kessler Award recipients include an exceptional demonstration of commitment, care, connection, initiative, and endorsement of students for opportunities.

Congratulations, Dr. Shemer!

Congrats to Laura Ott who won the Student Undergraduate Teaching and Staff Award (SUTASA) as part of the Chancellor’s Awards!

Biology Teaching Assistant Professor Dr. Laura Ott, and BIOL 101L Teaching Assistant Vikram Puri have won the UNC Out in STEM Inclusive Teaching Award this year! This award is given to a professor and a TA from UNC’s STEM departments who meet the criteria of creating an inclusive and celebratory environment for diversity. oSTEM will present these awards on Friday, April 21st from 9 a.m. – 9:20 a.m. in the Genome Sciences courtyard. The public is invited.

Congrats, Laura and Vikram!

Congratulations to Alayna Mackiewicz for receiving a P.E.O. Scholar Award for the 2023-2024 academic year. These awards are one-time, competitive, merit-based awards intended to recognize and encourage academic excellence and achievement by women in doctoral-level programs. Congrats Alayna!

Congratulations to Jeff Sekelsky for winning the 2023 Graduate School Award for Excellence in Graduate Student and Academic Program Support for his decade-long work directing the Curriculum in Genetics and Molecular Biology. Jeff’s work has had a huge impact on the Department of Biology and the greater UNC genetics community, and he is most deserving of our gratitude.

Each year the Undergraduate Honors Committee selects a junior Biology major as the Irvine Hagadorn Award recipient, based on academic and research excellence and contributions to the Biology Department. We review an outstanding group of students, and the choice is challenging. This year’s winner is Matthew Lu. He is doing his research in the Darville lab in Pediatrics/Infectious Disease, has a 4.0 GPA, and has served as a peer mentor in Biology 101H and as an SI leader for Biology 202 with Dr. Laura Ott.

Congratulations, Matthew! Runner-up was another outstanding student, Sarah Broyhill.

Congratulations to Esteban Agudo, who has been selected to receive a Dissertation Completion Fellowship from The Graduate School for AY2023-2024!