Graduate Student Awards
2024-2025

Outstanding Performance in PAMM 992 - Advanced Topics
Taylor Burke and Reegan Sturgeon

Midwest Student Biomedical Research Forum
“IPID Cash Award for Excellence” demonstrated at the research forum given to Dylan George for Best Oral Presentation and to Gabrielle Schulze for Best Poster Presentation.

Best Performance in IPID Comprehensive Examination
Arif Sadi

Best Presentation at the Graduate Student Research Seminar
First place to Taylor Burke and second place to Madison Love
Thomas L. McDonald Graduate Student Travel Fund
A generous endowment by Thomas L. McDonald, PhD, is intended to support graduate education in the Immunology, Pathology, and Infectious Diseases (IPID) program in the Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology.
This award is given to an IPID student who has received an honorary recognition such as a competitive travel award or an invited oral presentation from a national or international society or meeting (e.g., Gordon Research Conference or equivalent) in their field of study. The value of the award is up to $2,000 to support domestic or international travel to attend the scientific meeting.
Winners for 2024-2025 were:
- Francis Fontanilla, for the Chlamydia Basic Research Society (CBRS) Conference in Berlin, Germany
- Gabrielle Schulze, for the Staphylococcal Diseases conference in Barcelona, Spain
This is a one-time travel award that each IPID student can receive during their program of studies at UNMC. The value of the award is $1,000 for domestic travel and $1,500 for international travel outside North America.
Awardees for 2024-2025 were:
- Cole Holderjano, Chlamydia Basic Research Society (CBRS), Berlin, Germany
- Haley Knowles, CBRS, Berlin, Germany
- Tyler Zimmerman, CBRS, Berlin, Germany
- Taylor Burke, Staphylococcal Diseases conference, Barcelona, Spain
- Abigail Hall, Staphylococcal Diseases conference, Barcelona, Spain
- Jhyama Gurung, Research Society on Alcohol (RSA) Scientific Meeting/ISBRA Congress, New Orleans
- Mason Mandolfo, Digestive Disease Week, San Diego
- Ashley Peer, Alcohol-Induced End Organ Diseases Seminar & Conference, Ventura, California
- Reegan Sturgeon, American Association for Cancer Research, Chicago