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Multiple EEB members receive Chancellor’s Awards

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The UT Chancellor’s Office gives annual awards to recognize “extraordinary achievements” for faculty, staff, students, and other members of the EEB community. EEB-associated members received a disproportionate number of awards, including half of the awards for community service:
Gary McCracken — Alexander Prize, recognizing superior teaching and distinguished scholarship
Rosie Gillespie, UT PhD 1986 (advisor Susan Riechert), won the Notable UT Woman award, which this year was given to an alumna
Ken McFarland — an award for Extraordinary Community Service, due to his commitment to the Wildflower Pilgrimage
PhD student Jess Welch — an award  for Extraordinary Community Service
GREBE (graduate student organization, EEB) — an award for Extraordinary Community Service
Hannah Long was named a Top Collegiate Scholar
And also Shanna Pendergast, who recently joined Biology as an advisor, won an award for excellence in undergraduate advising

EEB undergrad wins in EUReCA competition

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EEB undergrad Devin Jones won first place in the EUReCA undergraduate research symposium, Ecology, Evolution, and Water Quality category, at UT. Devin’s poster was on “Fall Migration of Corn and Rice Strains of Spodoptera fruigperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in Southwest Texas”. She conceived of the project and performed all the field and lab work as well as the analyses. She was mentored by EEB Dept. Head Gary McCracken and EEB PhD student Jennifer Krauel.

EEB/NIMBioS at USA Science and Engineering Festival

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Sarah Wood, undergraduate in the Classen lab, teaches elementary students how to measure plant traits.





The USA Science and Engineering Festival on April 28 and 29 in Washington, DC brought the excitement of science to people from around the country. EEB and NIMBioS teamed up and presented two booths in the festival. Emily Austin and Jessica Bryant, Classen lab graduate students, taught Science Fest attendees about fungal decomposition of wood using decaying logs in terrariums. Sarah Wood, an undergraduate in the Classen Lab, and Kelly Sturner, education and outreach coordinator in NIMBioS, taught visitors about intra- and inter-specific variation in Solidago plants by having them measure stem and leaf traits. Both booths encouraged observations, data collection and graphical analysis. Many Science Fest attendees were families with elementary or middle school-aged children, but several teachers were there to pick up science project ideas for their classrooms. In all, an estimated 300,000 people left the event having learned at least one thing: science is exciting!

EEB/NIMBioS at USA Science and Engineering Festival

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Sarah Wood, undergraduate in the Classen lab, teaches elementary students how to measure plant traits.





The USA Science and Engineering Festival on April 28 and 29 in Washington, DC brought the excitement of science to people from around the country. EEB and NIMBioS teamed up and presented two booths in the festival. Emily Austin and Jessica Bryant, Classen lab graduate students, taught Science Fest attendees about fungal decomposition of wood using decaying logs in terrariums. Sarah Wood, an undergraduate in the Classen Lab, and Kelly Sturner, education and outreach coordinator in NIMBioS, taught visitors about intra- and inter-specific variation in Solidago plants by having them measure stem and leaf traits. Both booths encouraged observations, data collection and graphical analysis. Many Science Fest attendees were families with elementary or middle school-aged children, but several teachers were there to pick up science project ideas for their classrooms. In all, an estimated 300,000 people left the event having learned at least one thing: science is exciting!

Outstanding EEB undergraduate

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The award for outstanding EEB undergraduate went to Lauren Breza. Lauren started research at UTK just after high school, and worked in the Boake, Sanders, and, most recently, Classen labs.

Gary McCracken took pains to note that competition for this award was intense this year, with several other excellent nominees, especially Sarah Wood, Matt Letre, and Heather Tran, all graduating this spring.

Outstanding EEB undergraduate

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The award for outstanding EEB undergraduate went to Lauren Breza. Lauren started research at UTK just after high school, and worked in the Boake, Sanders, and, most recently, Classen labs.

Gary McCracken took pains to note that competition for this award was intense this year, with several other excellent nominees, especially Sarah Wood, Matt Letre, and Heather Tran, all graduating this spring.