Gleichsner Selected for Research and Teaching Honors

04-28-2017

It is not often that a graduate student will excel in both the laboratory and the classroom, but Alyssa Gleichsner has successfully captured the top teaching and research awards in Biological Sciences this year.  Alyssa, a graduate student in the laboratory of Dennis Minchella, has been selected to receive the 2017 H.E. Umbarger Outstanding Graduate Student Award.  This highly competitive and prestigious award recognizes a student for their superb research career.  Alyssa also received the Outstanding Graduate Assistant Teaching Award in Biological Sciences as well as the Teaching Academy Graduate Teaching Award in 2017. 

 Her studies use a combination of field experiments, molecular and genomic tools, and controlled laboratory investigations to explore the interaction and impact of parasite competition and environmental factors on infectious disease dynamics.  Her doctoral studies have already resulted in five publications including a first-authored comprehensive review paper on parasite virulence.  She is a superb representative of our department.  In 2014, Alyssa won research presentation awards at both the regional and national parasitology conferences, and then she captured the Best Student Presentation Award at the 2015 national meeting of The American Society of Parasitologists.