2024 MGI Awards Ceremony honors outstanding students
Sixty-three exceptional students from MSU’s Department of Microbiology, Genetics, & Immunology were honored at a departmental awards ceremony held on April 16 at the Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Building. More than 100 faculty, students, donors and parents joined to celebrate this year’s recipients.
"This joyful celebration enables us to honor the people for whom our awards are named, who have had such a lasting impact on our department, and to recognize the excellence of our trainees who receive them,” said Victor DiRita, MGI chair. “For that we are ever grateful to our donors, as it is through their vision and generosity that we can so nicely connect our past with our future."
MGI has twenty individual endowments which fund both undergraduate and graduate awards. As a result of the donors’ exceptional generosity, the department was able to award just over $80,000 to this year’s recipients.
The criteria for the awards are delineated in each specific endowment document.
“We have descriptions of each endowment and what the donor wanted us to look for in the students,” said Amber Bedore, graduate program coordinator for MGI. “It could be based broadly on their research excellence or on their professional development or academic achievements.”
For the graduate awards, nominations are solicited in the fall from the department’s faculty and include a letter of support as well as the student’s CV. The graduate committee reads through all the nominations and makes the final selections.
Undergraduate award nominations are requested directly from the students.
“At the beginning of the year, I solicit applications. I send an email out to every one of the undergraduate majors, and they send in a letter and also get a letter of support from a faculty member or their research mentor, “said Scott Mulrooney, director of undergraduate studies for MGI. “Then I access their academic records and the members of the undergraduate committee select from that.”
“As an international graduate student who faced financial challenges when first moved to the U.S., the Richardson Scholarship Award is not only a tremendous financial help but also an encouragement for me and my family to continue studying immunology and microbiology with the objective of deciphering the complexities of the human immune system in the context of infectious diseases, “ said Maria Soledad Soverina Escobar, this year’s recipient of the Marvis A. Richardson Scholarship Award in a thank you letter to the donors, “This award truly helps me achieve my career aspirations without the burden of financial worries.
“Your generosity has not only eased the financial burden but has also inspired in me a sense of responsibility and gratitude. I am committed to making the most of this opportunity and honoring your investment in my future. I pledge to work diligently and contribute positively to the field of immunology in the hope that my research will improve long-term global health outcomes.”
To see photos from the ceremony, visit: https://photos.app.goo.gl/yW3j5oXiU5ocMk5G7
For more information about the specific awards, please visit the MGI website.
Here is the full list of this year’s recipients:
Graduate Awards
Berttina Wentworth Award
Jared Godfrey
Jasper Gomez
Hazel McGuffin
Han Wen
Ralph Evans Award
Kaylee Wilburn
Rudolph Hugh Award
Adam Kibiloski
Thomas Kim
Hunter North
Edith Hsiung & Margaret Everett Kimball Award
Beth Ottosen
C.A. & Sasikala Reddy Endowed Award
Manos Kokarakis
Marvis A. Richardson Award
Heather Murdoch
Sole Soverina Escobar
Thomas S. Whittam Graduate Student Award
Troy Burtchett
Graduate & Undergraduate Awards
Russel & Dorothy Duvall Award
Undergrad:
Ava Erickson
Carol Hogan
Dylan Luce
Jimyung Ryu
Grad:
Megan Korne
Philipp & Vera Gerhardt Award
Undergrad:
Aubree Muethel
Zoe Pozios
Grad:
Esther Chen
Marcela Tabares Ruiz
Eleanor L. Gilmore Endowed Excellence Award
Undergrad:
Meghana Karumuri
Anne Lemek
Marissa Malleck
James Nelon
Samuel Snowden
Grad:
Morgen Clark
Alex Wessel
Frank Peabody Microbiology Student Research Award
Undergrad:
Anna Barker
Leah Colombo
Bailey Delcamp
Kyleen Hall
Ananya Kamath
Ishana Kapoor
Rosemary Northcote
Bhavya Thotakura
Elise Trost
Taryn Vielma
Grad:
Sergio Hernandez-Ortiz
Saanjh Sundar
Undergraduate Awards
Dietrich C. Bauer Award
Tim Baldwin
Caitlin Dougherty
Madison Enviya
Faith Nhkum
Karen & David Gloss Award
Abigail Lippert
Elizabeth Widun
Norman & Hanna Kelker Undergraduate Research Scholarship Award
Adam Grove
Katie McGrath
Bryce Waller
Theodore & Alice Rykala Scholarship Award
Ella Garza
William S. Sayer Award
Eric Puttaiah
Amber Cody Springman Memorial Scholarship Award
Jessica Bailey
Olivia Beckman
Veona Cutinho
Xander Fetterman
Matthew Gagea
Sooahn Jang
Nicole Smith
Richard & Susan Van Frank Undergraduate Research Fund Award
Achala Bannur
Graham Jackson
Emma Peek
Alassane Sow
