Winners Of The David Stephen Cant Scholarship And Barbara Vivash Award Announced

The Department of Molecular Genetics is delighted to announce the winners of two of our awards selected by our Departmental Executive Committee.  

Afrin Bhattacharya, a graduate student from the lab of Dr. Yun Li, received the 2021-2022 David Stephen Cant Graduate Scholarship in Stem Cell Research. This scholarship is annually granted to outstanding and committed graduate students specializing in the area of stem cell research.  

Wendy Cao, an alumnus from the lab of Dr. Howard Lipshitz and currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Hobert lab in Columbia University, won the Barbara Vivash Award in Molecular Genetics for the most outstanding Ph.D. thesis during the 2020-2021 academic year. Ideal candidate theses are typically defined as significant breakthroughs in comprehending the molecular genetic mechanisms underlying a vital biological or biomedical process. The Committee selected Cao as the recipient of this prestigious award based on her thesis: “Precise Temporal Regulation of Ribonucleoprotein Complexes during the Drosophila Maternal-to-Zygotic Transition.” 

Congratulations to you both!