Brian Layton Cardall Memorial Scholarship
Emily Palmquist
In collaboration with the US Geological Survey, she investigates how riparian plant species along the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park are affected by varying flood regimes as dams and flow management along the Colorado River have significantly altered the geomorphology of the river, the structure and function of plant communities, and the associated riparian animal populations (including fish and birds). Once she completes her doctorate, she looks forward to continuing her career in federal service.
Dr. Oliver W. Johnson Scholarship in Biology
Paige Chesshire
Her research focuses on plant-pollinator association in a hyper-diverse community along the San Francisco Peaks elevation gradient. She has served as a leader for the Flagstaff Summer Bug Camp for multiple summers and has held officer positions in the Biology Graduate Student Association. Her goal upon graduating is to continue doing research in a non-profit or federally run agencies and focus on fieldwork, data analyses and publications.
Dr. James Rominger Scholarship
Alexandro Grajal-Puche
He is interested in understanding how environmental processes shape wildlife communities and how these patterns impact ecosystem function. In that vein, his current research project is to investigate the ecosystem services that wildlife can provide to rural rice farmers in conjunction with efforts to support sustainable rice agriculture.
Kyoko Okano
Her research goal is to identify factors that control resilience of boreal deciduous forests to wildfires in interior Alaska. She hopes to continue studying the effects of climate change on disturbance regimes and vegetation shifts in interior Alaska and high latitude ecosystems.
Arizona Flycasters Club Scholarship
Roger Sandall
His goal is to become a wildlife biologist and continue to work at Lake Powell under the management of Arizona Game and Fish Department.
Dylan Christoff
He serves as the President of the NAU student subchapter of the American Fisheries Society (AFS) and wishes to pursue fisheries biology as a career.
Dr. Russell P. Balda Scholarship in Biology
Sasha Fernandez
She is interested in improving access to healthcare, learning about medical toxicology and treating addiction. She plans to attend medical school and help those who live in underrepresented communities in Arizona.
Eugene and Margery Bayless Scholarship
Kristen Kyger
Her research project focuses on the characterization of Escherichia coli from clinical urinary tract infections by extracting DNA from urine and preparing the DNA for sequencing. She hopes to attend graduate school and ultimately pursue a career at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Ely Miller
His research consists of developing software tools for building computational models to analyze complex biology systems. He plans to continue his education by going to graduate school.
Jeffery Briggs
He investigates the combinatorial effects of RAS and RAF inhibiting compounds in mutant zebrafish by developing software for simulating the dynamics of complex biological networks. He plans to become a dentist.
Kenneth Derfield Biology Scholarship
Jacqueline Lyman
She was a founding member and former president of the NAU women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics club. She has contributed to research in multiple labs. Currently, her project focuses on labeling opsin receptors on sperm cells through microscopy and immunohistochemistry to determine how they are linked to thermotactic sensing and reproductive viability. She intends to pursue a master’s degree in genetic counseling.
Denise Ocampo
She was a Supplemental Instruction (SI) Leader for BIO181 and is currently an SI Leader for BIO240. She is a co-founder of the Future Health Professionals Club. She is investigating respiratory muscle strength in adult survivors of preterm birth. She hopes to have a career as a physician-scientist.
Drickamer-Montgomery Scholarship in Biological Sciences
Brianna Alvarado
She was a Teaching Assistant for BIO201. She has co-founded the Future Health Professionals of NAU. She hopes to be a pediatrician and open her own practice in an underrepresented community.
Exercise Physiology Scholarship
Katrina Ward
She was a Teaching Assistant for BIO192 and works as a tutor at the North Academic Success Centers in 8 different course subjects. She has co-founded the En Pointe Club. She participates in the Interdisciplinary Global Programs with Spanish emphasis. Her goal is to empower English and Spanish speaking people with exercise and movement through physical therapy.
Kerry Henrickson Scholarship
Kayla West
She is a Supplemental Instruction Leader for General Chemistry I and II. She volunteers in the Emergency Department at Flagstaff Medical Center. She plans to pursue a career as a Doctor of Osteopathic medicine and specialize in Emergency Medicine.
Madeline Muller
She has been a Supplemental Instruction Leader for 4 semesters in various biology classes (BIO181, 182, and 202). She plans to attend medical school to become a doctor. More specifically, she aims to work for Doctors Without Borders or the Peace Corps in order to combat infectious disease in impoverished countries.
Brianna Cartwright
She was a Teaching Assistant for Chemistry 151 and works as a tutor at the North Academic Success Center in general chemistry, general biology, A&P, and microbiology. She aspires to be an orthodontist by going to dental school and then completing orthodontic residency.
Dr. Richard M. Paicius Endowed Scholarship
Travis Seideman
He is involved in the empathy research lab within the Psychology Department. He volunteers at Flagstaff Medical Center on weekends. He hopes to pursue medical school and specialize in neurology.
Kathleen Soria
She has been participating in undergraduate research at the Pathogen and Microbiome Institute. More specifically, her primary research is centered on understanding the spread of pneumonic plague outbreaks in Madagascar. She is interested in pursuing graduate school.
Mitchell Bryant
As an undergraduate researcher at the Pathogen and Microbiome Institute, he has helped in developing targeted deletions for several genes of interest in Coccidioides posadasii. He plans to pursue a PhD in molecular genetics.
Samantha Lucero
She was a Teaching Assistant for BIO201. Her research project focuses on amplicon sequencing of Clostridioides difficile to identify and characterize unknown C. difficile in clinical stool samples. She aims to be a pediatrician.
Denise Ocampo
She was a Supplemental Instruction (SI) Leader for BIO181 and is currently an SI Leader for BIO240. She is a co-founder of the Future Health Professionals Club. She is investigating respiratory muscle strength in adult survivors of preterm birth. She hopes to have a career as a physician-scientist.
Richard Shand Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Research in Microbiology
Breezy Brock
Her research project includes sample processing and sequencing of full-length West Nile Virus genomes from samples provided by the Utah Department of Health. She has also developed primers that will amplify Rabies Virus genomes. She currently serves as the President of NAU’s Pre-Veterinary Club. In her spare time, she volunteers at Canyon Pet Hospital and the Coconino Humane Society. She plans to pursue a professional D.V.M. degree at Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine.
Vesto M. Slipher Scholarship
Kathryn Conn
She was a Teaching Assistant for BIO205. She has been investigating the respiratory microbiome of patients with cystic fibrosis and chronic rhinosinusitis as an undergraduate researcher at the Pathogen and Microbiome Institute. She hopes to attend medical school after completing a graduate degree in Microbiology.
James R. Wick Scholarship
Nick Lopez
He has worked in Organic Electronics Lab to conduct solar cell research. He is currently working on developing a vaccine to prevent cardiovascular disease. He also volunteers at Flagstaff Medical Center. He is interested in pursuing medical school and practicing in underrepresented communities in order to work with patients who face unequal access to healthcare.
Emily Miller
She was a Teaching Assistant for BIO181. She works as PEAK Performance Math Coach in the Math and Statistics Department and volunteers at Flagstaff Medical Center. She plans to become a physician assistant.
Jordan Cartwright
He has completed extensive shadowing program with several orthopedic professionals. He volunteers at Flagstaff Medical Center. He dreams of becoming an orthopedic surgeon.
Eleanor Green Ingwersen Scholarship for Exercise Science
Isabel Moore
She was a Supplemental Instruction Leader for BIO201. She serves as a LSAMP mentor to beginning undergraduate students. She plans to earn a doctoral degree in physical therapy.
Dominique Enloe
She was a Teaching Assistant’s Aide for BIO182. She serves as a co-president of the club soccer team and is active member of Omega Phi Alpha Service Sorority. She would like to become a physical therapist in a school district.
Alex Jerez
He is an active member of LSAMP. He plans to attend physical therapy graduate program.
Art & Amanda Thompson Scholarship
Laura Vazquez
She volunteers at Flagstaff Medical Center and she has recently become a volunteer trainer. She hopes to be an anesthesiologist.
Stanley A. Rasmussen Memorial Scholarship
Steven Myers
He was a Teaching Assistant for BIO192. He was a part of a group that presented a poster on the effects of physical and mental stress from sports during adolescence on academic performance at the Undergraduate Research Symposium. He is involved in NAU’s athletic training program as a volunteer in the First Aid Tech Student Program. He hopes to be a collegiate level athletic trainer.
Morgan Moore
She intends to continue her study by getting a doctorate in physical therapy and work with patients who have prosthetics.
Chester F. “Danny” Deaver Scholarship (graduate)
Jared Swenson
He strives to disentangle the complex relationships between genetics, physiology, and ecology of a high elevation pine species— Pinus strobiformis – by locating genetic markers that contribute to survival and phenology under cold temperatures and drought conditions. He hopes to pursue a career in which he can protect ecosystem integrity and vulnerable species through biological statistics, invasive species removal, and conservation genetics.
Chester F. “Danny” Deaver Scholarship (undergraduate)
Sidni Eason
She is a student in the Interdisciplinary Global Programs with German emphasis. Her goal is to become a marine biologist, specializing in rehabilitating ill, injured, or orphaned marine animals.
Jerry O. Wolff Student Enrichment Scholarship (graduate)
Ana Braga
She has been recognized as an outstanding Teaching Assistant for adapting BIO181L curriculum to suit the needs of a visually impaired student. Her research goal is to understand the physiological and behavioral strategies that allow gray-collared chipmunks to survive in changing environmental conditions throughout the year. She plans to pursue a career in academia, contributing in both research and teaching.
Alejandro Ajo
He is a Fulbright Scholar who has been awarded an NSF-sponsored laboratory exchange grant that allowed him to conduct fieldwork on whales on the coast of Oregon. His current research is focused in understanding the causes of the high and recurrent whale’s calf mortalities in Patagonia Argentina. He hopes to use tools of animal behavior, physiology and ecology to address conservation questions as a conservation biologist.
Renee Jordan
She is a founding board member of the Northern Arizona Association for Women in STEM and she volunteers at Sinagua Middle School in the Scientists in the Classroom mentorship program. Her research evaluates the effects of legacy pollutants originating from formerly used defense sites on health and development in native fish. The results generated by this study will be applied to the studies of wildlife disease and population impacts of contaminant exposure and address health concerns for the Siberian Yupik people of St. Lawrence Island, Alaska.
Victor Zhang
He has been a Teaching Assistant for BIO181L and BIO182L. He has developed a curriculum for a new topical course, BIO499 Phenology. His research project focuses on the investigation of the endocrine, physiological and behavioral modulation of free-living arctic ground squirrels in Alaska and urban skunks and urban/wildland Abert’s squirrels in Flagstaff, Arizona. He plans to continue pursuing scientific discovery as a research and a mentor.
Mikayla Struble
She was a Teaching Assistant for BIO425C: Animal Physiology. Her research focuses on locomotor biomechanics in vertebrates in order to elucidate the evolution of locomotion in tetrapods. She plans to be a professor at a university where she can teach and continue doing research in biomechanics, evolutionary patterns and morphological adaptations.
Guangying Yang
He was a Teaching Assistant for BIO181L. He examines the structure and function of the chemical defense protein arsenic 3-methyltransferase by creating genetically altered zebrafish that carries loss-of-function and gain-of-function mutations.
Jerry O. Wolff Student Enrichment Scholarship (undergraduate)
Jordyn Upton
She participates in the Interdisciplinary Global Programs with Spanish emphasis. She built a user-friendly database through Microsoft Access to sort over 10,000 samples in Bat Ecology and Genetics Lab. She also worked on a genetic census of the southern hairy-nosed wombat, Lasiorhinus latifrons, using microsatellite DNA. Currently, she is helping to open a zoology genetics lab at the University of Alicante where she will barcode samples taken from frogs endemic to Mozambique. She plans to pursue a career in conservation genetics.
Bethany Robinson
She works as a research assistant in the Department of Health Sciences to evaluate physical inactivity and sedentary behavior of incarcerated female populations in Coconino County. She is interested in working in the medical field either as a physician or a researcher to help further the effectiveness of trauma care in rural areas.
Zyled Rodriguez
She volunteers as a teacher for middle school youth at a church and she participates in the LSAMP program. Her research project aims to analyze the gonad histology of ninespine stickleback from contaminated sites in St. Lawrence Island, Alaska. Her goal is to become an environmental scientist and work for an environmental protection agency.
Lowell Prize
Kylie Malilay is the 2020 Lowell Prize winner. The Percival Lowell Award is the oldest NAU award and was first given in 1918, 102 years ago, by Mrs. Percival Lowell as a way to commemorate her husband’s birthday. She made a presentation of a $20 gold piece to the Northern Arizona Normal School student who was identified as being the strongest in mathematics. Now the honor has been extended to include the physical and natural sciences and continues to be awarded by the Lowell Observatory.
Kylie is a Biology major with minors in Chemistry, Philosophy, and Psychology, President of the Ambassadors for the College of the Environment, Forestry, and Natural Sciences, an Anatomy lab teaching assistant, research team member in the Psychology department, an Academic Peer Mentor (APM) with the Academic Success Centers (19/20 APM of the year), and has worked with Louie’s Cupboard. After graduating, Kylie plans to work for a year to gain experience prior to applying to NAU’s Physician Assistant Studies Master’s program with an aspiration to become a primary care pediatric physician assistant and be a voice for unrepresented communities.
CEFNS Outstanding Senior
Kyle Ghaby was selected as the 2020 CEFNS Outstanding Senior. The College’s Outstanding Senior is a student who has achieved both academic and extra-curricular excellence. His mentors describe him as a brilliant young man on a trajectory for an exciting career in science. He has demonstrated definite scientific aptitude, creativity, and perseverance and is one of the most hardworking and intelligent scientists they have ever worked with. He has maintained separate research projects in the Chemistry department (aggregation of insulin with a goal of developing solutions for the preservation of insulin) and Biology department (examination of the dietary needs of zebrafish) while achieving his very high GPA and receiving the Barry Goldwater Scholarship. He actively searches out opportunities to help orient new group members and help them become proficient with relevant techniques. Kyle has won numerous research and academic awards while at NAU, anticipates submitting a publication for peer review soon, volunteers in the on-campus observatory, and has become a strong positive force in the NAU community.