Student successes

I'm lucky to work with a great group of postdocs, graduate students and undergraduates! Here are a few events -- and members of our group -- we've celebrated recently.

Fall 2012

• Congratulations to Mariana, MJ, and Ellen -- Drs. del Olmo Ruiz, Epps, and Martinson -- and congrats on your postdoc positions!
• Congratulations to Jana, Eric, and Owen on the happy arrival of Simon!
• Welcome Justin Shaffer and Kayla Arendt, new graduate students!

Spring 2012

• Congratulations to Jana on publication of her third chapter in the American Journal of Botany!
• Congratulations to high school researchers Ochana Otto and Wes MacDonald for multiple awards in regional, statewide, and national science fairs!
• Congratulations to Kayla Arendt and Jakob Riddle for admission to graduate school!
• Congratulations to Betsy on being named the 2012 Alexopoulos Prize winner by the Mycological Society of America!
• Congrats to Chan Jung for completing his honors thesis!
• Our new project on tropical seed-associated fungi has begun. Check out tropicalseeds.org for more.

Fall 2011

• Congratulations to Jana -- Dr. U'Ren -- for earning her PhD!
• Welcome Dustin, new graduate student!

Spring 2011

• Our new Dimensions of Biodiversity (DoB) award has begun. Check out www.endobiodiversity.org for more.
• Congratulations to Frankie Orozco for numerous science fair awards at the local, regional, state, and international levels!
• Congratulations to Ochana Otto and Wes MacDonald for second-place awards at the Southern Arizona Regional Science and Engineering Fair!
• Congratulations to Ochana Otto for acceptance to the KEYS program at UA for the summer of 2011.
• Congratulations to Wes for winning Grand Prize in the 2011 home-school science fair!
• Congrats to Dustin for winning 3rd place in the annual Student Poster Session in EEB!
• Congrats to Dustin for admission as a MS student to the PLP/M graduate program, and for his appointment as a Pierson Fellow!
• Welcome to Susan Furr, research technician and outreach assistant!
• Welcome to Christie Moss, assistant with our NIH work!
• Congratulations to Jana and Eric on the arrival of Owen!
• Congratulations to Betsy on being named the 2011 Outstanding Young Mycologist in North America by the International Mycological Association.

Fall 2010

• Congrats to Jana on publication of her second chapter in Microbial Ecology!
• Congrats to MJ for passing prelims!
• Welcome back Mariana!

Spring 2010

• Congratulations to Michele -- Dr. Hoffman -- on her successful Ph.D. defense!
• Congrats to Jana for receiving an NSF Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant!
• Congrats to Michele for pulication of her second chapter -- now in press in AEM!
• Congrats to MJ on publication of her first chapter -- now in press in Mycologia!
• Congrats to Jana on submission of her second chapter -- now in review!
• Congrats to Patrick for admission to pharmacy school!
• Congrats to Frankie for winning first place in the Southern Arizona Regional Science and Engineering Fair!
• Bets got tenure. Who would have thunk? :)

Fall 2008-fall 2009

• Congratulations to Michele and Mariana for receiving travel grants from FESIN to attend the 2009 FESIN workshop and MSA meeting!
• Congratulations to Jana for receiving a one-year IGERT fellowship for the 2009-2010 academic year!
• Congrats also to Jana on the publication of her first chapter in Mycological Research!
• Congratulations to Ellen for receiving a STRI predoctoral fellowship!
• Congratulations to Mariana, Ellen, and Jana for passing their prelims!
• Congratulations to MJ for receiving a funding award from Mountain Lake Biological Station!
• Congratulations to our graduates: Doug Mahana and Jamal Alafifi.
• Doug is off to NYU for graduate school; best wishes, Doug!

Summer 2008

• Congratulations to Michele Hoffman for receiving the Kinnison Scholarship from the Department of Plant Sciences!
• Congratulations to Jana U'Ren and Mary Jane Epps for receiving Mentor Travel Awards from the Mycological Society of America!
• Congratulations to Jana U'Ren and Michele Hoffman for receiving FESIN Travel Awards!
• Congratulations to Jana U'Ren for receiving an IGERT fellowship for the 2008-2009 academic year!
• Congratulations to Mary Jane Epps for being accepted to the Tropical Plant Systematics course!
• Congratulations to Mariana del Olmo and Ricardo on Sari's birth! Felicitaciones!
• Congratulations to our recent graduates: Yujin Huh and Dylan Grippi!
• Congratulations to Dylan Grippi on his first publication -- now in press in the Journal of the Arizona Nevada Academy of Sciences!
• Welcome to our summer interns: Alex (JJ) Delgado (Pima College) and Steven Uyeda (Sunnyside High School)!

Spring 2008

• Congratulations to Jana U'Ren for receiving the Clark Rogerson Research Award from the Mycological Society of America!
• Congratulations to Mary Jane Epps for receiving a Biodiversity Travel Grant from Bio5/CALS!
• Congratulations to Dylan Grippi for admission to the Ph.D. program at Emory!
• Congratulations to Linh Huynh and Yujin Huh for admission to pharmacy school!
• Congratulations to Fabiola Santos R. for admission to the graduate program in Plant Pathology at the UA!

Fall 2007

• Congratulations to Michele Hoffman for passing her prelims!
• Congratulations to Michele Hoffman for her first paper -- now in press in Mycological Research!
• Congratulations to our recent graduates: Judy Kwan, Linh Huynh, and Alex Laetsch!

Spring 2007

• Congratulations to Dylan Grippi for receiving an undergraduate-grant-in-aid from the Arizona Nevada Academy of Science!
• Congratulations to Jana U'Ren and Mary Jane Epps for receiving honorable mentions on their NSF Graduate Fellowship applications!
• Congratulations to Mariana del Olmo Ruiz for being awarded a place in the OTS summer field course in Tropical Plant Systematics ... in Costa Rica!
• Congrats to Mariana as well for a post-course scholarship from OTS!
• Congratulations to intern Cheyenne Weeks-Galindo for being accepted to the research training program supported by the Arizona Biology Network!
• Congratulations to Kiona Brown on receiving second place at the Southern Arizona Regional Science and Engineering Fair!
• Congratulations to Mary Jane Epps for receiving a research grant from Mountain Lake Biological Station!

Fall 2006

• Congratulations to Ben Wilder for being named the 2006 Outstanding Senior in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology!
• Congratulations to honorary lab member Eric Janson (Ph.D. student with Patrick Abbot, Vanderbilt) for passing his prelims!
• Congratulations to Ben Wilder for completing his undergraduate honors thesis -- and happy graduation!
• Congratulations to Michele Hoffman for receiving a one-semester+summer fellowship from the NSF IGERT in Genomics!

Summer 2006

• Congratulations to Mariana del Olmo Ruiz for receiving a CONACyT fellowship to support her graduate studies at the University of Arizona!
• Congratulations to Michele Hoffman for receiving a graduate travel award from the Graduate and Professional Student Council at the UA! This award will support Michele as she presents her work at the annual meeting of the American Phytopathological Society.
• Congratulations to Michele Hoffman for receiving a one-semester fellowship from the NSF IGERT in Genomics!

Spring 2006

• Congratulations, Elan Snitkin! Elan, soon to graduate from Tucson High School, won first place in his division at the Southern Arizona Science and Engineering Fair for his project entitled "Leaves and the fungi with whom they share their lives." Way to go, Elan!
• Congratulations to honorary lab member Cara Gibson (Ph.D. student in Entomology with Molly Hunter) for passing her prelims!
• Congratulations to honorary lab member Lindsay Higgins (Ph.D. student at the University of Utah with Lissy Coley and Tom Kursar) on receiving a short-term fellowship from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, and on receiving the Ernst Mayr award for an outstanding proposal!

Fall 2005

• Congratulations to Ben Wilder for receiving an undergraduate-grant-in-aid from the Arizona Nevada Academy of Science! This award will assist Ben as he completes his work on the flora is Isla Tiburon in the Sea of Cortez.
• Congratulations to Michele Hoffman for receiving a graduate-grant-in-aid from the Arizona Nevada Academy of Science! This award will support Michele's work on endophytic fungi associated with oaks, part of a larger study examining the movement of fungal pathogens and endophytes across borders.
• Congratulations to honorary lab member Anne Estes (Ph.D. student in EEB with Judie Bronstein and Betsy Pierson) for passing her prelims, and later receiving a Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant from NSF (Judie Bronstein, PI). Way to go!

Media attention - endophyte research

2006 Agricultural Experiment Station Report by Susan McGinley: "Detecting fungi" (2006)

Science News article by Susan Milius: "They're all part fungus" (2005)

Nature news and views piece by Keith Clay: "Fungi and the food of the gods" (2004)

The New York Times piece by Carol Yoon: "To the rescue: fungi that invade also protect leaves" (2004)

Science News article by Susan Milius: "Sweet lurkers" (2003)

Media attention - Robert L. Gilbertson Mycological Herbarium

2005 UA Press Release by Mari Jensen: "Fungus-friendly scientists meeting in Tucson" (2005)

2004 Agricultural Experiment Station Report by Susan McGinley: "Archiving Ecosystems" (2004)