Professor George Bentley (left) was a Bern Lecturer at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB) . The lecture is an annual international award given to a scientist who is deemed to have made significant contributions to the field of comparative endocrinology.

Professor Paul Fine received an award for a collaborative proposal from NSF’s Division of Environmental Biology (DEB) and Integrative Organismal Systems (IOS) entitled “Do defenses against herbivores and pathogens drive the commonness and rarity of tropical trees at local and regional scales?” The research will characterize chemical defenses of roots in tropical trees and look at their effectiveness against soil pathogens in Amazonian rain forests.
 

Professor Leslea J. Hlusko was appointed a research professor at the Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana, the research institution associated with the Museum of Human Evolution in Burgos, Spain.

Associate Professor Britt Koskella received a CAREER award from the NSF and USDA to study the role of viruses in shaping the plant microbiome in health and disease.

Professor Rasmus Nielsen was awarded an NIH R01 grant entitled “Enabling Precision Genomics Using Adaptive Variation.”
 

Assistant Professor Peter Sudmant received a Hellman Fellows Award to study allele-specific chromatin dysregulation in aging single cells and a California Conservation Genomics Grant to study the bocaccio rockfish.
 

Assistant Professor Jack Tseng received an award from the NSF for his project titled “Gateway to North America—the Great American Biotic Interchange (GABI) in Mexico and Origin of C4 Grassland.”

 

Congratulations to Britt Koskella (left) and Caroline Williams (right) on their promotions to Associate Professor!

 

IB Lab Instruction Manager Tamara Mau, Professor Paul Fine, and Professor Michael Nachman (left to right) were awardees of an inaugural Berkeley Changemaker™ Technology Innovation Grant to adapt remote field instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Academic Coordinator and Lecturer Tim Herrlinger is the lead PI for the California Learning Lab Faculty Professional Development Grant. The $200,000 award is a multi-institution collaboration between biology faculty at UC Berkeley, Berkeley City College, and California State University, East Bay to form a community of practice to support faculty instruction and student learning in introductory biology courses with the goal of narrowing observed equity gaps.
 

Congratulations to UCMP's Director of Education and Outreach, Dr. Lisa White—the newly appointed Chair of the American Geophysical Union’s (AGU) Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Committee.
 

Kevin Wei (Bachtrog lab) received an NIH K99 Pathway to Independence Award.

Jessica Aguilar (Whiteman lab) received an HHMI Gilliam Fellowship, a three-year fellowship program that seeks to advance diversity in the sciences. 

Devon Comito (Bentley lab) received a project support grant from the British Society for Neuroendocrinology. This project seeks to understand the effects of environmental stressors on behavioral and physiological plasticity in birds. In particular, this research will look at the neuroendocrine mechanisms regulating reproductive activity in zebra finches.

Roxy Cruz (Dawson lab) received an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology.

Jenna Ekwealor (Mishler lab) received an IB Dissertation Award, a California Botanical Society Paul Silva Student Research Grant, a California Native Plant Society East Bay Chapter Myrtle Wolf Student Research Grant, and a Graduate Remote Instruction Innovation Fellowship.

Sara ElShafie (Padian lab) started her own business, Science Through Story, LLC, to provide workshops and coaching on science storytelling.
 

Taormina (Tara) Lepore (Hlusko lab) received an inaugural Education & Outreach Funding Award from the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. With this award, Tara (left), her adult special-needs sister Katrina (right), and work-crew members at an adult day program for neurodiverse individuals will continue creating an in-house mini-museum, with a focus on augmented reality (AR) technology and inclusive design in paleontology education.