BMB celebrates with 2023 NatSci, undergraduate award winners

Nov 30, 2023

As we find ourselves nearing the end of the semester and winter break, BMB is excited to celebrate its incredible community of researchers, educators, staff, and students—many of whom have been recognized with much-deserved university and departmental honors.

At this year's annual MSU College of Natural Science Annual Faculty Meeting, BMB colleagues received a number of high-profile awards.

Erich Grotewold recieving his NatSci Outsanding Faculty Award from Dean Phil Duxbury.

Erich Grotewold received the NatSci Outstanding Faculty Award, which recognizes outstanding service to Michigan State University across numerous areas—teaching, advising, research, publications, and committee work to name a few.

Kelly Kim received the NatSci Teacher-Scholar Award, an honor that recognizes a tenure system faculty early in their career who has earned the respect of students and colleagues for their devotion to and skill in teaching. This award identifies the best teachers who have served at MSU for seven years or less.

Kelly Kim receiving her NatSci Teacher-Scholar Award from Dean Phil Duxbury.

Both Billy Yang and Shannon Walsh were recipients of the Ronald W. Wilson Endowed Teaching Award, which celebrates outstanding educational contributions to the Center for Integrative Studies in General Science

Kristin Parent was selected for the NatSci Mid-Career Research Award. This honor highlights outstanding research and academic excellence from a faculty member who is within twelve years of post-tenure.

Coinciding with these many university-level honors, BMB recently announced its 2023 undergraduate awards. These awards highlight the many incredible students here in our department, and their inspiring work as young researchers.

This year’s awardees were:

Matthew Gagea, Professor Richard L. Anderson Endowed Undergraduate Research Prize
Caroline Downes, Curtis Chen, and Adannaya (Dana) Nzerem, Dr. James K. Billman, Jr., Undergraduate Research Award
Anika Babel, Michael Burdick Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Scholarship
Natali Gonzalez, Pamela J. Fraker Undergraduate Scholarship
Nina Aitas, Moore-Billman Scholarship in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Tuan Kiet (Kyle) Trinh and Nikita Nel, Outstanding Undergraduate Student Award
MacKenzie Brasseur and Alexandria Collier, BMB Undergraduate Research Fellowship