Department of Microbiology at UMass Amherst

Caroline Tran, a Microbiology senior, was named a UMass 21st Century Leader. Recipients of the award are chosen in recognition of their strong academic records and exemplary achievements. They also further distinguished themselves through intellectual accomplishments and will be recognized for the prestige and honor they bring to the University of Massachusetts Amherst, both as undergraduates and as alumni joining the larger community. The award was presented at the University of Massachusetts Undergraduate Commencement ceremony on May 18, 2024.

Harita Sistu, Ph.D. student in Microbiology, was named a finalist in ‘What’s Your Story?’, a science writing competition sponsored by the online magazine The Scientist in partnership with Thermo Fisher Scientific.

Adam Charest, Microbiology '24, was named a UMass Rising Researcher. Adam is an undergraduate researcher and is currently working with Organicin Scientific, a start-up company which emerged from the research laboratory of Margaret Riley, Adjunct Professor of Microbiology. Organicin Scientific is developing new natural, non-antibiotic products that will revolutionize the treatment of aquaculture-related pathogens as well as many other promising pipelines, like acne. The Rising Researcher student acknowledgement program is designed to raise the profile of our most promising undergraduate students and to publicly acknowledge their excellent work.

Students in Heather Reed's freshman seminar, Microbiology 270, Cultivating the Microbiologist in You, painted with Photobacterium leiognathi KNH4. P. leiognathi is a bioluminescent symbiont of fish.