BETHESDA, MD – May 30, 2012 – The Genetics Society of America (GSA) is pleased to announce the selection of six graduate students and seven postdoctoral researchers as recipients of the DeLill Nasser Awards for Professional Development in Genetics. Each of these early-career geneticists receives a $1,000 travel award to attend a national or international meeting or to enroll in a laboratory course of their choice that will enhance their career.
These awards are named in honor of DeLill Nasser (1929-2000), a long-time GSA member who was instrumental in promoting genetics research, championing the genome sequencing of Arabidopsis and research in Drosophila during her 22 years with the National Science Foundation. She was particularly supportive of young scientists, those at the beginning of their careers, and those trying to open new areas of genetic inquiry.
GSA Executive Director Adam Fagen, PhD, said "we are honored to support the future of genetics through these awards, especially in recognizing an individual who played such an important role in guiding the discipline and ensuring its continued vitality. There are no more important investments we can make than in the graduate students and postdoctoral researchers who will be leaders in genetics in the decades to come."
The six graduate student recipients and the meetings they will attend are:
- Guangbo Chen (Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, MO), Experimental Approaches to Evolution and Ecology using Yeast Meeting, October 17-21, 2012, EMBL Heidelberg, Germany.
- Kathleen J. Dumas (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor), Keystone Meeting on Aging and Disease of Aging, October 22-27, 2012, in Tokyo, Japan.
- Michael Eastwood (University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada), GSA Yeast Genetics and Molecular Biology Meeting, July 31-August 5, 2012, Princeton, NJ.
- Erik Lehnert (Stanford University, CA), International Coral Reef Symposium, July 9-15, 2012, Cairns, Australia.
- Xin Li (Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN), 10th International Conference on Zebrafish Development and Genetics, June 20-24, 2012, Madison, WI.
- Daniel P. Rice (Harvard University, Boston, MA), First Joint Congress on Evolutionary Biology, July 6-10, 2012, Ottawa, Canada.
The seven postdoctoral researchers and the meetings they will attend are:
- Rui Chen, PhD (Stanford University, CA), 2nd International Conference on Proteomics & Bioinformatics July 2-4, 2012, Las Vegas, NV.
- Krista C. Dobi, PhD (Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY), FASEB Transcriptional Regulation During Cell Growth, Differentiation and Development Meeting, July 15-20, 2012, Snowmass Village, CO.
- Megan V. Phifer-Rixey, PhD (University of Arizona, Tucson), First Joint Congress on Evolutionary Biology, July 6-10, 2102, Ottawa, Canada.
- Alison Pischedda, PhD (University of California, Santa Barbara), First Joint Congress on Evolutionary Biology, July 6-10, 2012, Ottawa, Canada.
- Zhiyong Shao, PhD (Yale University, New Haven, CT), Glia in Health & Disease Meeting, July 19-23, 2012, Cold Spring Harbor, NY.
- Brett N. Tomson, PhD (University of Pittsburgh, PA), GSA Yeast Genetics and Molecular Biology Meeting, July 31- August 5, 2012, Princeton, NJ.
- Yun Wu, PhD (Princeton University, NJ), GSA Yeast Genetics and Molecular Biology Meeting July 31-August 5, 2012, Princeton, NJ.
The DeLill Nasser Awards have two rounds of applications per year: one for courses and conferences occurring between January 1 and June 30, and another for courses and conferences occurring between July 1 and December 31. Up to 25 graduate students and postdoctoral researchers receive these awards annually to assist them in acquiring career enrichment. For more information about these awards, visit the GSA website at http://www.genetics-gsa.org/pages/delill.shtml.
ABOUT GSA: Founded in 1931, the Genetics Society of America (GSA) is the professional membership organization for scientific researchers, educators, bioengineers, bioinformaticians and others interested in the field of genetics. Its nearly 5,000 members work to advance knowledge in the basic mechanisms of inheritance, from the molecular to the population level. The GSA is dedicated to promoting research in genetics and to facilitating communication among geneticists worldwide through its conferences, including the biennial conference on Model Organisms to Human Biology, an interdisciplinary meeting on current and cutting edge topics in genetics research, as well as annual and biennial meetings that focus on the genetics of particular organisms, including C. elegans, Drosophila, fungi, mice, yeast, and zebrafish. GSA publishes GENETICS, a leading journal in the field and an online, open-access journal, G3: Genes|Genomes|Genetics. For more information about GSA, please visit www.genetics-gsa.org. Also follow GSA on Facebook at facebook.com/GeneticsGSA and on Twitter @GeneticsGSA.