2009 ASPB Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship award announcement

SURF http://www.aspb.org/education/undergrad.cfm fellowships assist promising undergraduate students with meaningful research in plant biology early in their college careers. Ideally, students should conduct their SURF-funded research the summer following their second year. Exceptionally well-prepared first-year students and third-year students who provide evidence of a strong commitment to plant biology also are considered. SURF students must work with a mentor who is an ASPB member.

The ASPB SURF Committee would like to thank all the students and mentors who applied to the 2009 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship program. The applications were outstanding, making it difficult to choose only 15 fellowship awardees. These 15 awardees will complete 10 consecutive weeks of SURF research and present their results at Plant Biology July 31-August 4, 2010 in Montréal, Canada.

Congratulations to the following 2009 SURF Recipients and Honorable Mentions:

AWARD RECIPIENTS

CATEGORY A

Kevin Cooper, Wake Forest University Mentor: Gloria Muday
Auxin-Induced Flavonoid Gene Expression and Root Architecture

I am both honored and excited to receive this fellowship and greatly look forward to commencing my research project this summer. My project primarily involves the quantification of flavonoid gene expression through quantitative Real Time PCR (qRT-PCR). I look forward to presenting my results and discussing the discoveries of fellow researchers at Plant Biology 2010. Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Gloria Muday, Dr. Daniel Lewis, and all the other members of the Muday lab for their continued support.

Ying Goh, University of Leeds Mentor: Jurgen Denecke
Characterization of targeting signals and pathways controlling ER import sites in plants.

I am extremely excited about receiving the ASPB SURF! Having been exposed to plant science early in my degree I am thrilled that I am getting a chance to conduct research in a field I would like to further explore. I look forward to my summer research experience and would like to thank ASPB very much for this opportunity.

Sharon Holifield, University of Arkansas Mentor: Ken Korth
The role of glyoxalase I in abiotic stress tolerance of soybean, Glycine max.

I am more than excited about being able to do this summer research project. This is an excellent opportunity for me to get my hands "dirty" in plant biology lab work. I am also looking forward to seeing the research completed by my peers in Montreal next summer. I would like to give a big thanks to Dr. Korth, Dr. Wolf and Dr. Miller for their encouragement and support.

Emily Lin, University of Maryland Mentor: Ganesh Sriram
Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Derivatization for Metabolic Flux Analysis