PhD Spring 2021
Shishir Biswas (Seifert Lab)
Sandeep Saxena (Seifert Lab)
Chelsea Weaver (Osborn Lab)
John Terbot III (Linnen Lab)

MS Spring 2021
Brad Osborne, MSB

PhD Fall 2020
Clifford Harpole (Cassone Lab)
Warlen Piedade (Famulski Lab)
Sruthi Purushothaman (Seifert Lab)

PhD Summer 2020
Cagney Coomer (Morris Lab)
Kim Vertacnik (Linnen Lab)

MSA Summer 2020
Jeff Chalfant, MSA (Pendergast Lab)
Bradford Hull, MSA (Harrison Lab)
Catherine Stanley, MSA (Cooper Lab)

PhD Spring 2020
Emily Bendall (Linnen Lab)
Luc Dunoyer (Seifert/Van Cleve Lab)
Tom Maigret (Weisrock Lab)

MSB Spring 2020
Kimberly Phelps (Biology Department)

PhD Fall 2018
Megan Rhodes (Osborn Lab)
Brittany Slabach (Crowley Lab)

Masters Fall 2018
Nick Carrara, MSA (Famulski Lab)
James Giordano, MSB
Yuxuan Xie, MSB

Biology Graduate Student Fellowships, Awards & Honors

Fellowships

Presidential Graduate Fellowship

Awarded to Ph.D. students who have demonstrated meritorious progress toward their degree and outlined clear plans to advance their dissertation research. This competitive fellowship recognizes and rewards one graduate student annually for exceptional academic achievement and research excellence within their field of study.

• Anjana Subramoniam (O'Hara Lab) - AY 

TH Morgan Graduate Fellowship

• Sajina Dhungel (Kikani Lab) Spring 2026
• Kimberly Cook (Burger Lab) Fall 2025
• Hansika Herath (McLetchie Lab) - Spring 2025
• Meet Patel (Famulski Lab) - Spring 2025
• Kara Jones (Weisrock Lab) – Spring 2019
• Sruthi Purushothaman (Seifert Lab) – Fall 2018
• Scott Hotaling (Weisrock Lab) AY 2025-16
• Justin Kratovil (Weisrock Lab) - Fall 2024
• Lakshmi Pillai (Morris Lab) - Fall 2014
• Amber Hale (Rucker Lab) AY 2013-14

Biology Merit Fellowship

Awarded to PhD students in their 1st or 2nd year who have demonstrated exceptional promise. The fellowship provides a stipend (commensurate with a TA salary) and tuition.

• Binaya Adhikari (Burger Lab) Spring 2025
• Sarah Stasel (Osborn Lab) - Spring 2025
• Jeffrey Chalfant (Pendergast Lab) – Spring 2019
• Laura Krueger (Morris Lab) – Spring 2019
• Sandeep Saxena (Seifert Lab) – Spring 2019

CCTS TL1 Predoctoral Training Fellowship

• Victoria Alvord (Pendergast Lab) - fall 2024 - Two-year award
• Laura Krueger (Morris Lab) – Two-year award

Woman’s Club Endowed Fellowship (2019)

• Chelsea Weaver (Osborn Lab)

Lyman T. Johnson Diversity Fellowship

Awarded to graduate students who contribute to the University of Kentucky’s student diversity.

• Oluwabukola “Bookie” Omotola (Pendergast Lab) – Fall 2018
• Kayla Titialii (Morris Lab) – Fall 2018

Dean's Competitive Graduate Fellowship

• Brittany Slabach (Crowley Lab) – Spring 2018

Awards

A&S Outstanding TA Award

• Kat Sasser (2018)
• Jim Shaffer (2018)

Biology Outstanding TAs 

• Jeffrey Chalfant
• *Luc Dunoyer
• Allison McLaughlin
• Tim Salzman
• *Kat Sasser
• *Jim Shaffer
  * Nominated for College-level competition

Scherr Special Opportunity Award

Sruthi Purushothaman (Seifert Lab)
Supported a research visit to Dr. James Monaghan’s lab at Northeastern University to learn gene-editing protocols for axolotls using CRISPR/Cas9. This experience advanced her dissertation work in axolotl limb regeneration.

Cody Saraceno (Smith Lab)
Supported travel to Dr. Robb Krumlauf’s lab at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research to learn in situ hybridization (ISH) on lamprey embryos. This technique enhanced his research on germline development in sea lamprey.

MOSAIIC Award (2018)

(Multicultural Opportunities, Strategies, and Institutional Inclusiveness Conference – BCTC)

• Cagney Coomer (Morris Lab) for work with the NERD Squad

Community Service Award (2017)

Women of Color STEM Conference, Detroit, MI

• Cagney Coomer (Morris Lab)

MLK Leadership Award (2018)

Kentucky MLK Commission

• Cagney Coomer (Morris Lab)

Outstanding Poster Presentation

Annual Neuroscience Meeting, Louisville, KY (2018)

• Warlen Piedade (Famulski Lab)
• Kristyn Van Der Meulen (Famulski Lab)

Barnstable Brown Diabetes and Obesity Research Day

• Kayla Titialii (Morris Lab) – 1st Place Poster Presentation

Travel & Professional Development Awards

• Kayla Titialii (Morris Lab)
  • SACNAS Travel Scholarship
  • Professional Development Fund Award (Center for Graduate Diversity, UK)

Ribble Mini-Grant 

• Chelsea Weaver (Osborn Lab) – Supported 10-day trip to St. Kitts for research on African Green Monkeys

Condor Instruments Excellence Award

Society for Research on Biological Rhythms

• Charles Cassone (Cassone Lab) – For abstract: “Temperature Entrainment of the Circadian Clock of the Enteric Bacterium Enterobacter aerogenes”

AHA Trainee Poster Competition Winner (2017)

American Heart Association Council on Hypertension – San Francisco, CA

• Megan Rhoads (Osborn Lab)
  • Poster: “Prevalence of Spontaneous Hypertension in African Green Monkeys is Age-related”

Honors & Leadership

NAGPS (National Association of Graduate-Professional Students)

• Kaylynne Glover (Crowley Lab)
  • Director of Legislative Affairs
  • Social Justice Advocate, Midwest Region
  • External Affairs Officer, UK Graduate Student Congress

Women of Color STEM Conference (2017)

• Kayla Titialii (Morris Lab) – Graduate Student Mentor

Stens Corporation Neurofeedback Certificate Program (2017)

Quantitative EEG & Neurofeedback, July 25–28

• Ren Guerriero (O’Hara Lab)
  • Four-day intensive training in neurophysiology, instrumentation, electrode placement, and neurofeedback applications