2010-11
Congratulations to the following 2010-11 UAMS Graduate School Achievement
Award Winners: William Atchley, Matina Balou, Hunter Holthoff, Drew Jones,
Aleksandra Markovets, Melda Onal, Christina Pettey, Zhen Wang, Charity
Washam, Martin Watts, and Agnieszka Zielinska
Suja
Aaratthuthodiyil (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology)
Received an American Society for Microbiology travel award to attend the Viral
Genome Replication Conference
William Atchley
(Interdisciplinary Biomedical Sciences)Received a Ruth
L. Kirchstein National Research Service Award from the National Institutes of
Health
Nathan Avaritt
(Biochemistry and Molecular Biology)
Received an ASBMB
graduate student travel award to attend the ASBMB 2011 Annual Meeting
Matina Balou
(Communication Sciences and Disorders)
Received the
Gerondelis Foundation Research Grant
Klressa Barnes
(Interdisciplinary Biomedical Sciences)
Received an
American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery Conference Travel Award
Shweta Chavan
(Bioinformatics)
Received a
travel award to attend the 8th Annual MidSouth Computational Biology
and Bioinformatics Society Conference
Shimul Chowdhury
(Interdisciplinary Biomedical Sciences)
Received the
Wilson Presentation Award for Predoctoral Students at the 50th
Teratology Society Annual Meeting
Lisa Cortez
(Interdisciplinary Toxicology)
Received an ASPET
travel award to attend the 2011 Experimental Biology Meeting
Linda Crompton
(Nursing Science)
Received the
Jonas Center and the John A. Hartford Foundation Predoctoral Scholarship
Tristan Fowler
(Cellular Physiology and Molecular Biophysics)
Received The
Endocrine Society Outstanding Abstract Award for the Endocrine Society 2011
Meeting
Received the
Women in Endocrinology Young Investigator Award for the Endocrine Society 2010
Meeting
Hamdan Hamdan
(Cellular Physiology and Molecular Biophysics)
Received an
American Society for Neurochemistry Young Investigator’s Education Enhancement
Travel Award
Hunter Holthoff
(Pharmacology)
Received a Ruth
L. Kirchstein National Research Service Award from the National Institutes of
Health
Received an APS Microcirculatory Society Travel Award to attend the 2011 Experimental
Biology Meeting
Drew Jones
(Biochemistry and Molecular Biology)
Invited to the
St. Jude Graduate Student Research Symposium
Received First
Place in the Graduate Student Life Sciences Oral Presentations at the 95th
Annual Arkansas Academy of Sciences
Kevin Kim
(Interdisciplinary Biomedical Sciences)
Received a 2011
Midwest Trainee Travel Award to attend the CSCR/MWAFMR Combined Annual Meeting
Aleksandra
Markovets (Bioinformatics)
Received a Merck
Sharp & Dohme Corp. Bioinformatics Internship
Tanecia Mitchell
(Interdisciplinary Biomedical Sciences)
Received a
Society for Free Radical Biology and Medicine Young Investigator Award for the
17th Annual Meeting
Lara Mrak
(Microbiology and Immunology)
Received an
International Conference on Gram-Positive Pathogens travel award
Nisha Nanaware
(Pharmacology)
Received an Amgen
travel award to attend the 2011 AAPS National Biotechnology Conference
Selected to be a
student co-moderator at the AAPS National Biotechnology Conference Subcutaneous
Absorption of Macromolecules session
Andrew Norwood
(Interdisciplinary Biomedical Sciences)
Received a
Behavior, Biology and Chemistry Conference travel award
Melda Onal
(Interdisciplinary Biomedical Sciences)
Received the 2010
ASBMR President’s Award
Elina Pathak
(Pharmacology)
Received an ASPET
travel award to attend the 2011 Experimental Biology Meeting
Christina Pettey
(Nursing Science)
Selected for the
National Institute of Nursing Research Summer Genetics Institute
Shanthi Vadali
(Interdisciplinary Toxicology)
Received an ASPET
travel award to attend the 2011 Experimental Biology Meeting
Zhen Wang
(Pharmacology)
Received an
American Heart Association Predoctoral Fellowship
Received an APS
Caroline tum Suden/Francis A. Hellenbrandt Professional Opportunity Award to
attend the 2011 Experimental Biology Meeting
Received a
Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine Young Investigator Award to attend
the 2011 Experimental Biology Meeting
Charity Washam
(Bioinformatics)
Received the
Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute Predoctoral Fellowship in Breast Cancer
Received a travel
award to attend the MidSouth Computational Biology and Bioinformatics Society
Annual Meeting
Received the Best
Conference Abstract Award at the International Conference on Cancer Induced Bone
Disease
Received an
International Bone and Mineral Society New Investigator Travel Award to attend
the International Conference on Cancer Induced Bone Disease
Jennifer Watts
(Neurobiology and Developmental Sciences)
Selected to
present at the NIH 6th Annual Pain Consortium Symposium
Received a
Diversity Travel Award to attend the 25th Annual National MD/PhD
Student Conference
Martin Watts
(Neurobiology and Developmental Sciences)
Received a Ruth
L. Kirchstein National Research Service Award from the National Institutes of
Health
Received a
Diversity Travel Award to attend the 25th Annual National MD/PhD
Student Conference
Agnieszka
Zielinska (Interdisciplinary Biomedical Sciences)
Received an
American Heath Association Predoctoral Fellowship
UAMS Graduate
School Travel Awards
Suja
Aarattuuthodiyil
Ahmed Aldwairi
William
Atchley
Nathan Avaritt
Matina Balou Michael
Bauer
Laura Broederdorf
Stefania
Cane
Shweta Chavan
Krishna
Chimalakonda Chad Cragle Linda
Crompton
Chaoxuan
Dong
Amanda
Elton
Tristan Fowler Hamdan Hamdan Rawad Hodeify Matthew Howell Drew Jones Sharon Jones Erin Kamarunas Sujay Kharade Juan Liu Aleksandra
Markovets Tanecia Mitchell Brooke Montgomery Melda Onal Christina Pettey Michael Preston Kimberly Reynolds Shannon Rose Nandini Sakurikar Christian Simmons Shraddha Thakkar Misty Thompson Shanthi Vadali Zhen Wang Jinhu Xiong
UAMS Student
Research Day Winners
Erin Kamarunas
(Communication Sciences and Disorders) Brooke Montgomery
(Health Promotion and Prevention Research) Meghan Sherman
(Genetic Counseling) Martin Watts
(Neurobiology and Developmental Sciences) Laura Broederdorf
(Microbiology and Immunology) Anup Srivastava
(Interdisciplinary Toxicology) Christina Pettey
(Nursing Science) Mukdha Ghokale
(Pharmaceutical Sciences-Pharmaceutical Evaluation and Policy)
2009-10 Congratulations to the following 2009-10 UAMS Graduate School Achievement
Award Winners: James Bellamy, Sarah Cullen, Sujay Kharade, Omar Rahal,
Christian Simmons, Avis Simms, Sharla Smith, and Jennifer Watts
Michael Bauer (Bioinformatics)
Received the Exceptional Presentation Award at the 2009 Southeast IDeA
Regional Meeting
James Bellamy (Health Systems Research)Received Pilot Grants from the UNC Preparedness and Emergency Research
Center and the University of Kentucky Center for the Public Health Systems
and Services Research
Shweta Chavan
(Bioinformatics)
Received the Exceptional Presentation Award at the 2009 Southeast IDeA Regional
Meeting
Shimul Chowdhury (Interdisciplinary Biomedical Sciences)Received a travel award to attend the 50th Annual Teratology
Society Meeting
Sarah Cullen (Microbiology
and Immunology)
Selected to attend the 2009 NIH Graduate Student Research Festival
Dinesh
Hirenallur-Shanthappa (Pharmacology)
Received the best abstract award in the ASPET Cardiovascular Division at the
2009 Experimental Biology Conference
Sarika Kadam (Interdisciplinary Biomedical Sciences)Received a National Kidney Foundation Educational Stipend to attend the 2010
Spring Clinical Meeting
Sujay Kharade
(Pharmacology)
Received an American Heart Association Predoctoral Grant
Received a APS/NIDDK Minority Travel Fellowship Award to attend the 2010
Experimental Biology conferenceSelected
to compete in Graduate Student Best Abstract Oral Award at EB 2010—ASPET:
Division for Integrative Systems, Translational and Clinical Pharmacology
Recipient
of the FASEB MARC Program Travel Award for the Leadership Development and Grant
Writing Seminar Program for Graduate Students and Postdocs on August 28–29, 2009
in Virginia Beach, VA Omar Rahal (Interdisciplinary Biomedical Sciences)
Received a Predoctoral Fellowship from the Department of Defense Breast Cancer
Research Program
Somdutta Saha (Bioinformatics)Received a
NSF Travel Award for the 2009 IEEE International Conference on Cluster Computing
Received an Arnold Ravin Muriel Rogers Fellowship travel award for Wind River
Conference on Prokaryotic Biology 2009
UAMS Graduate Student Research Funds Grant Natara Andrews
Stametela (Matina)
Balou
Minho Chae
Kevin Kim
UAMS Graduate School
Travel Awards
Baby Aarattuthodiyil
Puneet Bharill
Shimul Chowdhury
Scott Helms
Rawad Hodeify
Matthew Howell
Kevin Kim
Mahaswari Rajasekaran
Kimberly Reynolds
Christian Simmons
Christen Simon
Sherri Smart
Jennifer Watts
Jinhu Xiong
2008-09
Congratulations to the following 2008-09 UAMS Graduate School Achievement
Award Winners: Stamatela (Matina) Balou,
Sherin Boctor, Joy Good,
Brooke Montgomery, Kristy Nicks, and David Terrano.
Stametela (Matina) Balou (Communication
Sciences and Disorders)For
Being Awarded the University of Central Arkansas McNiece Fellowship
Michael Bauer (Bioinformatics)Received a travel award at
the 2008 National IDeA Symposium of Biomedical Research Excellence
Puneet Bharill (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology)Received a 2008 Walter R.
Nicolai Runner Up Award for meritous research completed by a pre-doctoral
candidate in the area of biomedical gerontology at the 37th
Annual Meeting of the American Aging Association
Lauren Blair
(Biochemistry and Molecular Biology)Received a travel award at
the 2008 National IDeA Symposium of Biomedical Research Excellence
Sherin Boctor (Interdisciplinary Biomedical Sciences)Received the 2009 Richard
Butcher New Investigator of the Year award from the Neurobehavioral
Teratology Society
Stephanie Byrum (Bioinformatics)Received a travel award at
the 2008 National IDeA Symposium of Biomedical Research Excellence
Shweta Chavan (Bioinformatics)Received a NSF Travel Fellowship for
the Rock '08 Bioinformatics Conference organized by the International
Society of Computational Biology
Chaoxuan Dong
(Neurobiology and Developmental Sciences)Received an Arkansas
Children’s Hospital Research Institute Student and Clinical Staff Research
Intramural Grant
Joy Good (Communication
Sciences and Disorders)For
Being Awarded the University of Central Arkansas McNiece Fellowship Melodee Harris (Nursing
Science)Received a 2008 National Gerontological Nursing Association Mary Wolanin
Graduate Scholarship Award and a 2008 Sigma Theta Tau Research Award
Drew Jones
(Biochemistry and Molecular Biology)Invited as a guest speaker
to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention
Biny Joseph
(Pharmacology)Received a Junior Scientist
Graduate Student competition award in Cardiovascular Pharmacology at the
2008 Experimental Biology meeting
Brooke Montgomery
(Health Promotion and Prevention Research)Received a Travel Award to
Attend the Workshop on Statistical Methods in Drug Abuse and Health-Related
Research
Received a Ruth L.
Kirchstein National Research Service Award from the National Institutes of
Health
Shankar Munusamy
(Pharmacology)Received a travel award
from the Gordon Conference committee to attend the 2008 Oxygen Radicals
MeetingReceived Best poster award at the 2008 annual meeting of the South Central
Chapter of the Society for Toxicology
Received New Investigator travel award to
attend the 2008 Jackson Cardiovascular-Renal Meeting
Kristy Nicks
(Physiology and Biophysics)Received a Women in
Endocrinology Young Investigator Award at the Annual Endocrine Conference
Selected to attend NIH
Graduate Student Research Festival
Lindsay Pack
(Interdisciplinary Biomedical Sciences)Received a travel Award to attend Association of
Public Health Laboratories national meeting in Anchorage, Alaska in May 2009
Omar Rahal
(Interdisciplinary Biomedical Sciences)Received an Arkansas
Children’s Hospital Research Institute Student and Clinical Staff Research
Intramural Grant
Kathryn Seely (Interdisciplinary Toxicology)Received a travel award
from the Society for Neuroscience to attend the national meeting
Christian Simmons
(Physiology and Biophysics)Received an Arkansas
Children’s Hospital Research Institute Student and Clinical Staff Research
Intramural Grant
David Terrano
(Biochemistry and Molecular Biology)For Receiving a Predoctoral
Fellowship from the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program
Zhen Wang (Pharmacology)Received first place for
his oral presentation in the student platform presentation category at the
2008 South Central Chapter of the Society of Toxicology Meeting
UAMS
Graduate Students Research Funds Grant Anca Bene
Tommy Bird
Stefania Cane
Cody Cook
Sarah Cullen
Dinesh Hirenallur-Shanthappa
Elina Pathak
Glauber Pereira
Daniel Prantner Omar Rahal
Jennifer Watts
UAMS
Graduate School Travel Awards Baby Aarattuthodiyil
Karthik Arumugam
Puneet Bharill
Lauren Blair
Stephanie Byrum
Stefania Cane
Minho Chae
Cody Cook
Sarah Cullen
Chaoxuan Dong
Carol Enderlin
Laura Evans
Samual Freyaldenhoven
Rebecca Gilbride
Melodee Harris
Dinesh Hirenallur-Shathappa
Rawad Hodeify
Shashank Jain
Drew Jones
Sujay Kharade
Judy LaBonte
Juan Liu
Rakesh Luthra
Anna Mazur
Shankar Munusamy
Kristy Nicks
Elina Pathak
Omar Rahal
Kimberly Reynolds
Kathryn Seely
Richard Smith
Swapnil Sonkusare
Ying Su
Cagdas Tazearslan
David Terrano
Jacy Wagnon
Wei Wang
Yin Wang
Zhen Wang
Katharine Whitney
Meijun Ye
Endrit Ziu
2007-08
Congratulations to the following
2007-08 UAMS Graduate School Achievement Award Winners: Lauren Blair, Sarah
Cullen, Rebecca Gilbride, Jonathan Hubbard, Biny Joseph, Brooke Montgomery,
Kristy Nicks, Vishnu Ramani, and Ying Su.
Jonathan Hubbard (Pharmacology)NIH Ruth Kirschstein NRSA
Biny Joseph
(Interdisciplinary Toxicology)
1st place in the oral competition for graduate students in the Cardiovascular Division of ASPET at the 2008 Experimental Biology meeting
American Heart Association Predoctoral fellowship
Kristy Nicks (Physiology and Biophysics)
NIH Ruth Kirschstein NRSA
Venkata Bhogaraju (Pharmacology)
2nd place in the Neuropharm Division of ASPET's poster contest at the 2008
Experimental Biology meeting
Travel award to the 8th International ISSX (International Society for the Study
of Xenobiotics) meeting
UAMS Graduate Student Research Funds
Awardees
Susan Ball
Rong Chu
Carol Enderlin
Laura Evans
Lalit Oberoi
Shelia Savell
David Terrano
UAMS Travel Awards
Puneet Bharrill
Venkata Bhogaraju
Tommy Bird
Lauren Blair
Sherin Boctor
Amit Bodhani
Stefania Cane
Dana Carthron
Carol Enderlin
Brandon Fontenelle
Matt Forestiere
Jun Gao
Melodee Harris
Dinesh Hirenallur-Shanthappa
Biny Joseph
Sujay Kharade
Kyongmin Kim
Shuliang Liu
Rakesh Luthra
Balasubramanian Manickam
Kristy Nicks
Kejal Parikh
Yinghui Pu
Martha Rojo
Sarika Saraswati
Christian Simmons
Swapnil Sonkusare
Ying Su
Yin Wang
Toby Ward
Sarah White
Katharine Whitney
2006-2007
Congratulations to the following
2006-07 UAMS Graduate School Achievement Award Winners: James Cassat, David
Heister, Kristy Nicks, Sarika Saraswati, Zabeena Shaik, Athena
Starlard-Davenport, and Michael Velarde.
Sudeepa Bhattacharyya
(Bioinformatics)
UALR Donaghey College of Information Science and Systems Engineering Student
Excellence Award
Bill Buron (Nursing Science)
John A. Hartford Foundation Building Academic Geriatric Nursing Capacity
Scholar Award 2006-2008
Travel award from American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental
Therapeutics (ASPET) to attend the 2007 Experimental Biology conference in
Washington, D.C. in May. This is the second year she has received this
award.
Carol Enderlin (Nursing Science)
John A. Hartford Foundation
Building Academic Geriatric Nursing Capacity Scholar Award 2006-2008
Sigma Theta Tau International,
Gamma Xi Chapter, Chiron Mentorship Leadership Award 2007-2008
Gautum Gandhi
(Physiology and Biophysics)
Accepted to attend the NINDS/AUPN/ANA “Combining research and clinical
careers in neuroscience” meeting in Washington, D.C. in June
Young Scientist Travel Award to the 7th
International Conference on Brain Energy Metabolism held on August 15-15,
2006 at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Lausanne, Switzerland to
give an oral presentation
Jun Gao (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology)
2006 Yeast Genetics and Molecular Biology Travel Award
to the Genetics Society of American meeting
2007 ASBMB Graduate and Postdoctoral Travel Award to
the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology meeting
Angela Green (Nursing Science)
Received honorable mention for poster presentation
entitled “Children’s Quality of Life After Cardiac Transplant: Parent and
Child Views” at the Southern Nursing Society Annual Meeting held February
22-24, 2007 in Galveston, TX
David Heister (Neurobiology and Developmental
Sciences)National Research Service Award Fellowship from the NIH (5/05-5/11)
Editorial Focus in Journal of Neurophysiology written
about article “Evidence for electrical coupling in the SubCoeruleus (SubC)
nucleus” (2007)
Third place in the graduate
student oral presentations division at the 2007 Arkansas Academy of Sciences
meeting
The IBS students led by Lauren Bailey raised money and bought gifts for a Head Start program
class in Little Rock. There was a similar effort from the GSA led by
Lauren Blair (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology). Tanecia Mitchell (Interdisciplinary Biomedical
Sciences)
Selected to attend the American Physiology Society
Short Course “Making Scientific Presentations: Critical First Skills” from
March 8-11, 2007 in Bethesda, MD. All of her travel and meeting expenses
were paid for by the NIGMS.
Kristy Nicks (Physiology and Biophysics)
MARC/FASEB Travel Award 2006, 28th Annual
American Society of Bone and Mineral Research Meeting in Philadelphia, PA
2006 Porter Physiology Developmental Fellowship for
Minorities (American Physiological Society)
Zabeena Shaik (Pharmacology-Pharmaceutical
Sciences Track)ASPET Best Paper Award (First Place) 2006 in Division
of Toxicology at Annual Experimental Biology meeting, San Francisco, CA-“Akt
activation diminishes nephrotoxicant-induced mitochondrial dysfunction and
necrosis in renal cells”
ASPET Graduate Student Travel Award to 2006
Experimental Biology meeting in San Francisco, CA
Graduate Student Travel Award 2007 to attend Society
of Toxicology meeting held March 2007 in North Carolina
Colgate Palmolive Award for Student Research Training
in Alternative Methods, Society of Toxicology-2007
Technology Transfer Award, South Central Chapter of
Society of Toxicology meeting held November 2006 in Monroe, LA
Athena Starlard-Davenport (Biochemistry and
Molecular Biology)American Association for Minorities in Cancer Research
Travel Award April 2007 (LA, CA)
Experimental Biology 2006 Minorities and Health
Disparities symposium. Invited speaker on research entitled
“Characterization of UDP-Glucuronosyltransferases in normal and malignant
human breast tissue”
Toby Ward (Microbiology and Immunology)
First place in the graduate
student oral presentations division at the 2007 Arkansas Academy of Sciences
meeting Cindy Zhang Gandhi (Neurobiology and
Developmental Sciences)
Accepted to attend the NINDS/AUPN/ANA “Combining
research and clinical careers in neuroscience” meeting in Washington, D.C.
in JuneYoung Investigator Travel Award to the 2006 American
Society for Neurochemistry
