accolades

A big round of congratulations is in order for many members of the lab this month!

Yes, we are!

First up, a hearty huzzah to lab technician Mara CP Rue and former undergraduate researcher Estelle Smith, both of whom were accepted into their top choice PhD programs for this coming fall! Mara will be joining the graduate program in neuroscience at Brandeis University, and Estelle will be joining the graduate program in computer science here at the University of Minnesota. We are all very excited for them both; congratulations, Mara and Estelle!

Additionally, graduate student Anthony Auletta recently received the prestigious Laudier Histology student travel grant, which will fund his trip to Golden, Colorado for the 20th International Congress of Arachnology this July. Woot woot, Anthony!

And last but certainly not least, undergraduate researcher Tony Bigelow recently accepted a position as course assistant for the renowned Neural Systems and Behavior summer course in Woods Hole, Massachusetts for this summer. Way to go, Tony!

Congratulations to Ph.D. student Anthony Auletta, who won the First Place Award in his poster section in the Graduate Student Competition for the President’s Prize at the 2015 Entomological Society of America Annual Meeting!

His poster, entitled The organization of the spider nervous system as revealed by dopamine immunolabeling and confocal microscopy, showcased his research on the distribution of dopamine in the spider CNS, which is also currently being prepared for publication with Cynthia Harley, Mara Rue, and Karen Mesce as co-authors.

This award includes a cash prize of $175, as well as one year of free membership to ESA.

Congratulations, Anthony!